Seeking vs. Surrendering: Why I Think the Fastest Path Is Letting Go (this goes with business and most things in life)

Today, I was struck by something Joe Hudson said in an interview. He spoke about how seeking purpose is like a jealous lover — assuming love isn’t there, and therefore chasing it endlessly. The more they seek, the more the other retreats.

That hit home.

Seeking, he said, often comes from the assumption that something is missing — that we are somehow not already whole, not already connected, not already living it. The act of seeking can become a kind of spiritual insecurity — and in that movement, we may actually push the very thing we long for further away.

That feels true for me.

In my own journey of self-discovery, I’ve often approached it like a performance: trying to do it “right,” to find the most efficient, most optimized path. As if max effort equals max return.

But it rarely works that way.

Emotionally, it feels like being caught in a loop of chasing — subtly telling myself that I’m not enough yet, that the answer is out there, not in here. And from that place of lack, even when I do arrive at answers — logical, sound, well-constructed — I struggle to believe in them. I can’t seem to integrate them.

It’s as if answers born from the tension of striving don’t land in the body.
They don’t soothe. They don’t resonate.
They don’t feel true.

So what’s the alternative?

Perhaps — in the context of self-discovery — the fastest, most natural path is not seeking at all.
It’s surrendering.

Not giving up. Not being passive.
But surrendering the need to chase. Letting go of the mental sprint.
And instead, relating to myself from where I already am.

What if I trust that the purpose, the clarity, the knowing — it’s already in me?
What if it unfolds not through effort, but through allowing? Through curiosity?
What if self-discovery isn’t a mission, but a relationship — fluid, evolving, alive?

Surrender, in this way, becomes a kind of invitation. A willingness to meet myself as I am, without the pressure to optimize or rush. A quiet faith in my own unfolding.

This reminds me of Taoist wisdom — the idea of flowing with nature rather than forcing it.
Nature doesn’t strive, yet everything gets done.
It evolves, slowly and gracefully.
We, too, are part of nature.

We forget that.

We forget that we are worthy of love, of wonder, of awe — as we are.
Not as a project to fix, but as a being to meet.

So here’s what I’m sitting with today:

Maybe the fastest way to become more of myself…
is to stop trying to become anything at all.

Just be.
Be open. Be curious.
And let it unfold.