Most people don’t realize they’ve built a life around survival cues. Urgency, pressure, overcommitment, hustle, people-pleasing—these stress signals often become the foundation of our routines, not because we chose them consciously, but because they’re normalized.

The result? Lives that look productive on the outside but feel chaotic, disconnected, and unsustainable on the inside.

But what if we stopped designing our lives around what keeps us stressed—and started designing around what helps us feel safe, steady, and well?

I recently saw a post in a Facebook group about striving to embody your full potential. The comments were flooded with people sharing how they once tried, only to find it self-defeating, exhausting, stressful, and leading them to chase perfection. They concluded that the concept was just too hard and unattainable.

I've been reflecting on this for a while, pondering the ideas of "self-actualization" and "highest potential." What I've realized is that there are some major misconceptions about these concepts. None of this is supposed to make you stressed out, feel like you're failing, or make you feel like a loser.