A reflection for parents supporting children with special educational needs...
There are approximately eight billion people in this world. If you counted one person per second without stopping, it would take you around 250 years to reach that number. A staggering thought.
Eight billion people needing land, food, water and energy every single day just to survive. People of different races, cultures, religions, values and traditions… all sharing this one planet.
And yet, beneath all those differences, so many of us are quietly searching for the same things…joy, fulfilment, contentedness. We’re simply travelling very different roads to reach them.
For most parents, that road is paved with immense responsibility.
Caring, providing, juggling, worrying, holding everyone else together. It’s all too common to work beyond exhaustion. Emotionally, mentally, physically…believing that once everything is done, once everyone else is okay, then contentment will arrive.
And yet, we see time and again that wealth, success or “having it all together” doesn’t protect people from feeling lost or depleted. So, what’s missing?
You’ll likely know the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” That idea was brought to life so poignantly in the Pixar film Up. Carl sets off on a journey to fulfil a dream for his beloved wife, only to realise that the life they shared…the ordinary days, the quiet moments…were never a stepping stone to something else. They were the destination.
When days blur into routines, appointments, school runs, paperwork and constant mental lists, it’s easy to lose sight of that truth. Life can begin to feel like something to get through rather than something to be in. There’s little space to pause and even less permission to ask ourselves what we need.
Here’s a gentle invitation…
Stop…just for a moment.
Ask yourself, what truly matters to me?
If I were nearing the end of my journey here on earth, who would I want beside me and why? If the noise of surviving softened for a moment, what would remain?
Somewhere in this answer lives the spark…the quiet things that genuinely bring peace, meaning and a sense of “this matters”. This is where purpose begins, not as a grand calling, but as something deeply human and personal.
Purpose isn’t a one-size-fits-all idea. With eight billion people in the world, there are eight billion different journeys, shaped by circumstance, season and capacity. And for parents, especially those carrying additional emotional or practical load, purpose can feel elusive, not because it isn’t there, but because it’s often buried under tiredness and self-neglect.
Discovering purpose begins with believing that you are allowed to have one.
Not just as a parent, carer or provider…but as a person.
It’s about noticing what quietly lights you up. The moments that soften your shoulders. The things that make the ordinary feel a little more alive.
What brings a small, unexpected smile?
Is it laughter with your children even on hard days?
The stillness of a quiet morning before everyone wakes?
Creating something, helping someone, being out in nature, running with your dog?
When do you feel most fulfilled…not praised or productive, but settled?
What moments make you proud even if no one else sees them?
Clarity doesn’t come from pressure. It comes from compassion.
From allowing yourself to look honestly, without judgement, at what matters to you.
And once you begin to see that more clearly, purpose becomes less about adding more and more about aligning and bringing intention into the life you already live.
Living with purpose doesn’t mean grand gestures or radical change. It can look like:
- Setting meaningful goals shaped by your values, not by comparison or expectation. Small steps count. Gentle progress counts.
- Prioritising what truly matters even when life is busy. Letting joy, connection and rest have a place alongside responsibility.
- Practising presence, finding purpose in everyday moments…a conversation, a shared meal, an act of care…rather than waiting for “someday”.
- Reflecting regularly, with kindness. Not asking, “Am I doing enough?” but “Is this still aligned with what matters to me?”
And perhaps most importantly, offering yourself compassion along the way.
So, let’s think about this rhetorical question…
“When you’re holding everyone else, who holds you?”
I wonder if you will let yourself sit with this gentle thought…
Perhaps being held…doesn’t always come from outside.
Maybe it begins the moment we stop pushing ourselves so hard.
When we loosen the grip on who we think we should be and turn toward ourselves with gentle, unwavering kindness.
In that softening, we remember that this struggle is not a flaw nor a failing.
It is part of being human.
Others carry this too even if it looks different on the outside.
We are not uniquely broken… not uniquely incapable…
We are tired and we are not alone in that tiredness.
When we let our own tired, complicated, quietly brave life matter…not someday, not when things are easier…but now, exactly as it is…
We discover that holding ourselves can be a quiet harbour amid the storm.
In the end, embracing your life’s purpose isn’t about reaching a distant, lofty goal.
It’s about noticing your todays…
About choosing, again and again, to live with intention where you are, with what you have and who you are becoming.
This is how ordinary moments slowly, quietly…become extraordinary.
From my heart to yours…
Genevieve🌻❤️🔥🙏