If you’re going through a spiritual awakening, your world has been turned upside down. Suddenly, nothing makes sense anymore. Nobody seems to get what you’re going through, not even yourself.
You experience moments of complete bliss and peace, and you realize that is what you have been missing your whole life. But you also experience stages of anger, grief, and despair. Everything in your life that made you you doesn’t apply anymore.
You probably went through a big life transition: a break-up, a midlife crisis, the loss of a loved one, the birth of a child, etc. Or maybe you had a spontaneous awakening, which can overwhelm you even more. Whatever caused your sudden wake-up from our performance-driven society, nothing in your life is what it seems anymore.
There are some common stages of a spiritual awakening that many people seem to go through. It manifests differently for everybody, but generally, we all reach the ‘surrender’ stage at some point.
But what happens after that?
Arriving at the final stage?
I thought I had passed all the stages the moment I felt a calm inner peace that just generally stuck with me. It felt like the Universe had my back, and I learned to appreciate everything that came to me and was going to come, whether good or bad.
I sensed that everything happened for a reason, and I just had to learn the lesson in it. It had taken me more than five years to reach that point, and I had done a lot of inner work during those years.
I was faced with many deep-rooted fears and shadows about myself and my childhood that spiraled me into a Dark Night of the Soul. This is the moment that you lose complete sense of who you are (or were), and you have to start from zero again. Everything you thought applied to you suddenly becomes an illusion.
When you get out of the Dark Night, your eyes literally open to a new world. You start to see beauty all around you, get connected much more to Mother Earth and your Higher Self, and you’re actively breaking your conditioned patterns.
For me, this stage was wonderful. I finally felt better after the dark moments I had before, and I was very focused on learning everything about this whole spiritual awakening thing.
The Void Stage of a Spiritual Awakening
Since I felt that I was approaching the peaceful stages, I felt really good about myself. I totally understood what people meant by reaching inner peace. It felt exactly like that.
So it struck me as a complete surprise that after a few months of that blissful stage, I got catapulted back into the darkness. It was different than the Dark Night, though. It was just emptiness.
I didn’t feel bad or depressed. I didn’t cry for hours on end, and I didn’t feel anger. I just felt… nothing.
It was very confusing. Where did that blissful feeling suddenly go? I didn’t feel called to do more inner work, and I didn’t want to meditate or take plant medicine anymore. I had no motivation to do anything whatsoever.
However, I did realize something was missing. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Procrastinating and lack of motivation
After coming out of the Dark Night of the Soul, I had a lot of motivation to get to know myself. Even though I still procrastinated at work (something I have been doing all my life), I did have the drive to do other things. Especially teachings that brought me more understanding of who I was.
But during the Void Stage, I felt overwhelmed by all the things that I still don’t know. There were so many lessons and so many more spiritual tools to use; when was I ever going to be done?
It completely brought me into a freeze state. I literally could not make myself do anything. I knew I had to make money — my bank account was lowering every day. But I just could not rack up the energy to do it.
My own business was another stressor. I realized I had to put more energy into it to make it thrive, yet I could not make myself spend time on it. The prospect of making it bigger than myself scared the shit out of me. What if it suddenly becomes successful and I have to put all my time into it?
The Universe is preparing you
But now I know exactly why I was in the Void Stage for so long. The Universe was preparing me to be of service.
To be of service? What does that even mean?
A spiritual awakening doesn’t happen just for you. It happens for everyone else as well. You get into a spiritual awakening because something bigger is planned for you. Up till now, you may have lived your life away from your purpose.
And that is exactly why you are getting into the Void Stage. You have passed most of the stages of a spiritual awakening, but you know there is more. The Void Stage is there to make you so annoyed with yourself and your inability to do something useful that at some point you will burst from frustration.
And that is the moment you can actively change your habits. Nobody else is going to do it for you. You feel this way about yourself because you have skills and talents that can help others, yet you probably don’t do anything with them.
Your purpose is waiting for you
I am not saying you should be a people pleaser and always be there for everyone when they want you to. Actually, it is the opposite. It’s time to choose yourself. You have to figure out your skills and your talents, and how they can help others (or our Earth).
It’s nice to be liked by everyone, but it’s not what you came here to do. Only your authentic Self can really be of service. You choose your own path, and you decide who you want to be in this life.
If you’re in the Void stage, don’t underestimate this part. After all, if you had really reached the final stage of a spiritual awakening, you wouldn’t feel this empty. You would feel good about yourself, because you’re doing what you need to do.
Your purpose can only be something that is in service to others. It doesn’t matter if it’s people, nature, or animals, but it’s always something that is bigger than you.
How to get out of the Void Stage?
Your purpose should scare you, and it should make you feel uncomfortable. Only in those moments can we grow. Staying in your little bubble of comfort is easy, but it will not get you out of the Void Stage.
Try to figure out your Magnum Opus. Accept that you are in this stage for a reason, and it’s slowing you down to collect the energy to do something big.
Enjoy the Void stage right now because before you know it, you will long for these moments of emptiness again. Your life will be overflowing with all the purposeful work you will have to commit to (and you will love it!).
You will know when you’re ready. You will know when it’s time to get up. In the meantime, embrace everything that life throws your way, even if that’s feeling a void right now.
If you’re craving a deeper connection with yourself and feel ready to begin again, I highly recommend this course*. If you’re longing for a reset, this might be just what you need.
*This is an affiliate link, which means I earn a percentage of your purchase. I don’t promote anything I don’t use myself or that I don’t think will genuinely help you. Thank you in advance for supporting me!
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Me too, girl. And I’d be fooling myself to think this won’t remain cyclical as I continue spiraling to what is more true. There is only deepening— and coming up to ourselves in infinite ways ❤️ AND the void stage is real. And my last visit felt extended, for sure— and all I could do was trust, and know what ever is happening— needs to happen. xx