Last week was honestly a bit of blur.

I spent most of it in what I can only describe as full-on creation mode, working like crazy person to get done early everything I had originally planned to do this week so that I could take this week off while our friends Jim and Kim are in town visiting for a few days.

I was up at 3, working 16-hour days, and basically living on coffee and pure determination.

But it wasn’t torture. In fact, I loved every minute of it.

Because what I’ve been working on is all the new content for my Powerhouse 2.0 program, which launches in a couple of weeks. It’s so good, and it gets me so fired up, especially when I think about how transformative it is going to be for my clients. It's literally 15 years of everything I've learned about building successful online businesses, all pulled together into one cohesive system that I know is going to change lives.

And what I’ve learned is that when you're working on something that feels incredibly meaningful and totally aligned that even the exhaustion feels good.

So that’s been fun. But after a conversation I had with a friend the other day, it also got me thinking a lot about purpose and how powerful it is when you have it—and how devastating it can be when you don't.

I was sharing with her how several years ago, my husband Chuck and I went through a really rough patch in our marriage.

I was in this crazy season of trying to be a Big Deal. I was traveling constantly, launching books, doing interviews, speaking on stages, and hustling like crazy to build my business and make a name for myself in this online world. I was so driven to succeed, even though, looking back, I didn’t even really know what I wanted. All I knew was that I hadn’t achieved it yet.

Meanwhile, Chuck was home with our girls, managing the endless cycle of laundry and dishes and errands and all those other thankless daily tasks that never seem to end.

And I didn't see it at the time, but he was struggling.

It wasn't that he didn't love being home with our kids—he did. It wasn't that he resented my success—he didn't. In fact, he’s never been anything but 100% supportive of me and my drive. But he had nothing that was just for him. Nothing that lit him up or gave him a sense of purpose beyond the daily grind.

And we certainly didn’t have a shared purpose. If anything, we were going in two totally opposite directions, and it wasn’t good.

So we went to a marriage counselor.

He listened to us each talk for a while, and then he looked at Chuck and said something I'll never forget.

“How long have you been burned out?”

Then he continued, “I counsel a lot of couples, and what you guys are going through is pretty common. Usually it's the wife—the stay-at-home mom—who ends up feeling lost and purposeless. But in your case, it's the opposite. But you need something of your own. Something that fills you up and gives you purpose."

And he was right.

In fact, looking back, I see now how much that conversation changed everything for us.

First it was becoming more intentional about making sure that Chuck was taking on projects and pursuits that challenged and excited him, beyond just the daily grind of managing our household. Creative projects around the house that tap into his insane engineer brain. Volunteering at church and in the community. Managing our rental properties. Things that give him purpose and meaning beyond just being “Mr. Mom.”

And it made a huge difference—not just in him, but in our whole relationship.

But then he encouraged me to get more intentional about my purpose too. He could see how hard I was working, but he could also see that I didn’t really know what I was working for. He patiently asked me, over and over again, “honey, what do you really want?”

And eventually, over the course of many conversations, we began to map out a shared vision and purpose for our life together–one that includes meaningful work for both of us. We came up with a 10 year plan, and we wrote it out in vivid detail.

Ultimately the whole experience made us realize that both people in a marriage need to feel fulfilled. Love isn't enough if one person is running on empty.

Viktor Frankl once said, "Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose." Along those same lines, the Dalai Lama noted that "Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions."

In other words? Purpose isn't a luxury—it's oxygen.

The truth is that you can be surrounded by blessings and still feel empty if you don't have a reason to get excited about your days. And that emptiness doesn't just affect you—it affects everyone around you too.

When you're lit up by what you're doing, that energy is contagious. But when you're just going through the motions? That's contagious too.

And so, my challenge for you this week is to take an honest look at your life and ask yourself: Do you have something that gives you a deep sense of purpose right now? Something that makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning?

And if you're married or in a relationship, ask the same question about your partner.

Because you both deserve to feel that spark. You both deserve to be doing work—whether that's building a business or raising kids or volunteering or creating art—that feels meaningful and important.

Life's too short to just go through the motions.

Live with purpose, friend, and have an amazing week!

xoxo, Ruth

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