The Holiness of The Hunger For More
“A soul that longs for something is a soul that is growing — one way or another, smaller or larger.”
— Joan Chittister, American Nun
I was born with a voracious appetite for life—a wild hunger for more.
And from the moment that hunger showed itself, the world began its campaign to tame it.
Past a certain age, we are taught to silence our hunger—to smile, stay grateful, to dismiss it as immaturity. So we swing between guilt for not being content with what we have, and the fear that something inside us is dying. When we buck social standards and live our hunger out loud, we’re called indulgent and broken— there must be something wrong with her.
From the beginning, my life has been shaped by this hunger. At seventeen, I wanted more than my hometown and it was quickly branded a flaw. Later, it was wanting more than Australia, more than marriage, children, a “normal” job—that was proof I was defective. And now, the thing that feels truest in me, the desire to let the whole earth, not just one country, define my existence—is dismissed as indulgent.
People have side-eyed my choices whole life. One of the most consistent themes I have is people telling me my hunger is wrong.
And for a time, I believed them. Maybe they were right—why else couldn’t I be satisfied with what seemed to fulfill everyone else? Why did their version of a great life feel like soul-death to me?
So I decided to confront it head on. For years, I tried to squeeze myself into situations that deadened parts of me. I sat through Ayahuasca, Vipassana retreats and 5 years of therapy, going face to face with the hunger I was desperate to erase, and what I learned was this: hunger was never the problem. The social/cultural denial of it was.
Four billion years of evolution did not plant this hunger for more inside us by accident. There is intelligence in it. Whether you believe in God or, like me, in nature, the truth is life is evolving through you. To feel an ache for more is not failure—it could be the very raw material of your becoming.
Every desire of your body is holy; Every desire of your body is holy.”
—Hafiz, The Subject Tonight Is Love
Of course, hunger has nuance. Chronically ignored and undirected, it can become insatiable and destructive—I have lived that too. But the answer is not denial or suppression, the work is to channel it so it becomes generative, so it becomes the source you create from.
Which brings me to you, dear reader. What have you been calling restlessness, when in fact it is the fire of life burning inside you? What do you still deny you want? How much longer will you supress your appetite for more?
All the beauty in my life exists for one reason: I listened to my hunger for more. So this blog is an ode to the holy hunger inside you—the way it sharpens you against the dullness of an unlived life, refuses the monotony you’ve been trained to accept. Every time you feel it, you are being called closer to the center of your becoming.
Deny it, and you diminish. Follow it, and you evolve.
Contemplation Prompts:
What if Your Hunger Was Revelation?
Every desire we admit or deny is shaping the story of our life. These prompts are about noticing where longing is already alive in you, and deciding whether you will meet it.
Where in your life are you starving yourself of what you know you want?
What forms have you assumed your hunger must take—and what is the essence beneath them?
Where have you been taught to distrust your wanting?
If you knew your hunger was an intelligent summons from life itself, what would you allow yourself to claim?