Journal
There’s a rumor
There’s a rumor.
On the corner.
At the coffee shop.
Whispered between classes, in the back of bookstores, and in those high-minded gyms where people are training more than just their bodies.
And it’s spreading.
Human beings – from old souls and wounded healers to rebellious creators and well-trained athletes – are talking about it.
And as they do, they feel something ancient move inside them.
A physical recognition of old wisdom, followed by an even stronger sensation:
This must also be the future.
Life has to be more than following others like puppets.
Life can’t just be about getting ahead and achieving more – sacrificing the ancient longing for connection, beauty and harmony in exchange for money, recognition, and cheap dopamine hits.
When people get seriously ill, they don’t start working more. They stop checking their e-mail first in the morning.
It’s as a serious illness throws away all the noise of the modern world an reconnects them with what makes life worth living.
Suddenly, it becomes clear what life should be about.
And the debilitating fear of what other people think – about their clothes, their hair, their homes, their abs, their spiritual convictions – dissolves in an instant.
They start prioritizing what the rumor is really about:
Alternative ways of living.
Relationships.
Meaningful traditions.
Wisdom.
Kindness.
Humor.
Beauty.
Gratitude.
Spirituality.
Non-duality.
Karma.
Afterlife.
Magic.
The subtle powers we feel but cannot measure – the ones the modern world refuses to validate.
People who reach a breaking point no longer have time for endless scrolling or mechanical interactions without depth. Enough is enough.
Instead of constant comparison and hyper-productivity — usually driven by the desperate need to feel safe, worthy, and in control — they start feeling, f e e l i n g, immense gratitude.
Gratitude for the next breath.
For a quiet, strong morning coffee.
For a body that still lets them run terrible, magical intervals before plunging into a cold lake.
For laughing with a child.
For hugging a friend.
For the raw beauty and pain of being alive – and not knowing when it ends.
One message from a doctor can make presence, kindness and innocence feel like the most precious gifts in the world.
They are.
Our days are counted.
The clock started ticking the moment we opened our eyes in this body.
And hopefully, when our time runs out, we’ll look back at a life well lived.
What I hear on the streets, in bookstores, coffee shops, gyms, and tarot circles is this:
People are longing for aliveness.
Not trophies.
Not status.
Not busyness.
Not the outdated definitions of power and wealth.
Aliveness.
The old souls, the wounded healers, the rebellious creators, the inspiring athletes – they know this.
They refuse to live by standards that drain their joy, spontaneity, and unique creative expression.
As the mainstream world goes right, clinging desperately to an outdated path, they turn left.
They can’t do it anymore.
And they know that many of the ”successful” people in the mainstream world are also the most depressed, lonely and insecure – global stars with shiny armor, many of whom aren’t with us anymore.
But it’s so hard to break free from society’s stories, the news’ propaganda, and social media’s highlight reals.
They tell us what to focus on.
They tell us to keep consuming, keep chasing, keep scrolling, keep reacting, keep protecting.
I am not saying you shouldn’t work for the medal. But I am saying the gold is the work.
The journey — and especially the people you share it with — matters more than the podium.
I am not saying you should give up ambition.
Many of these athletes, book nerds, rebellious creators and old souls are among the best in the world at what they do.
Some healers have abilities that defy explanation.
But I am saying your ambition should be an expression of who you truly are – not the foundation of your self-worth.
And it should nourish the people around you, not drain them.
If your drive is fueled by shame or worthlessness, it will be destructive.
Children’s books and old myths have been telling us this for centuries – kindly and consistently presenting ancient wisdom, offering spiritual warnings with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, wondering why we still don’t get it.
If you want the crown – to be the one everyone must follow and praise – can you accept that the old king must die?
If you want the hit, the price, the prince – is it worth giving up your inner voice, your health, or your soul’s longing?
Is pleasing the critics worth the cost of presence and peace, connection and aliveness?
Is it success to be exceptional, but toxic to the people around you?
Like, for what?
To have a medal?
To get mechanical hearts and two minutes of praise?
To get the crown, but also a lifetime of defending a position that never fulfilled you anyway?
To get five stars, but somewhere along the way forget how to actually live?
If we want to be whole, we need to cultivate the whole.
Embracing the shadow.
Integrating the beast.
Broadening our definition of a successful life.
Sitting with boredom, confusion and legitimate human pain.
Expressing ourselves from the inside out – without the ego’s demand to be right, to be first, to protect, or to dominate.
Many creators, rebels, healers, book nerds, artists and athletes are longing for something more than the crown and the spiritual cage of outer success.
Something our books and myths and stories have shown us for centuries:
It is possible to live in a different way.
To approach your work and your craft from a different source.
Where intensity – in business, sports, or creativity – is followed by rest.
Not as a reward, but as a foundation for aliveness, growth, and time with loved ones.
Where performance isn’t proof of worth, but an expression of your inner life. An expansion of your soul’s goodness.
Where winning contributes to something bigger.
Where losing is a lesson, not an attack on your self-worth.
Where success isn’t how much you achieved, but who you became.
More and more people are listening.
Talking about it on the street.
In coffee shops.
After morning sessions.
In their tarot circles, family dinners and creative gatherings.
The old souls, wounded healers, and rebellious creators are fascinated by their soul’s longing.
They listen to it.
Value it.
They are learning how to follow its signal instead of society’s endless noise.
They are breaking free from old stories about ”success” that no longer make sense.
Going left when others turn right.
Because they know, more spiritually than logically, that true freedom and aliveness don’t come from what the mainstream world has become.
They are whispering, singing, and storytelling about the rumor:
To glimpse that freedom, that new way of living, it’s not about hurrying.
It’s about slowing down.
They know that true elevation isn’t about self-driving cars or ballistic robots.
It’s about empathy.
The hard things aren’t the cold plunge or the 80-hour work week.
It’s sitting with your pain.
Learning to work with it.
Slowly but surely healing parts of yourself terrified of shame or abandonment -and then helping others do the same.
The children’s books, the old myths, the ancient wisdom – they are way ahead.
Maybe we can catch up.
Live your standards.
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