Reclaim Your Mission
Sonny Sandoval from the band P.O.D., from the band’s images.
As we step into a new year, we want to offer something simple, steady, and empowering:
You get to reclaim your mission.
Not the mission tied to your roles.
Not the mission shaped by expectations.
Not the mission buried under stress, performance, fear, or fatigue.
We’re talking about the mission that belongs to you -
the one woven into your being long before life taught you to play certain parts.
Because the truth is, every one of us has been shaped, trained, or domesticated in some way.
We’ve absorbed messages about who we should be, how we should act, what we must achieve, and who we must please.
Over time, these layers become heavy.
They bury our clarity, freedom, and mission.
Waking Up to What’s Already True
Anthony De Mello writes about this beautifully in Stop Fixing Yourself - reminding us that we don’t need to become someone different. We simply need to wake up to who we already are.
And when we wake up, we remember:
We’re not what we do.
We’re not our roles.
We’re not our pressure.
We’re not our fear.
We’re not our conditioning.
We are the one who chooses how to show up.
That’s the place where your mission lives.
A Choice No One Can Take Away
Viktor Frankl, writing after surviving multiple concentration camps, said:
“Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
His circumstances were unthinkable.
And yet his conclusion was unwavering:
No matter what is happening around you, your inner choice remains yours.
Your response.
Your posture.
Your presence.
Your mission.
This is surrender - not giving up, but giving over.
This is intentionality - responding from within instead of reacting from fear.
This is intrinsic motivation - living from what’s truest instead of what’s loudest.
Shared Mission
With Sonny on tour in 2018.
Meet Sonny Sandoval, known by many as the lead singer of the band, P.O.D.
I met Sonny late in high school. I saw him as a strong person, held to his convictions, mission-minded and unwavering in his Faith.
Throughout the years Sonny has become a friend. Through his kindness we’ve continued our friendship across the country and even shared the stage.
The mission in my life has been influenced, encouraged and supported by Sonny and it’s been my joy to support him with his.
Mission has a way of helping us feel like we are an active part of something bigger than ourselves.
When we slow down long enough to breathe, to notice, to wake up…we reconnect with something deeper than the pressure of our roles.
Here is a picture of my wife and I catching Sonny on a recent tour in 2025.
We remember we’re part of something sacred.
Purposeful.
Stable.
Quietly powerful.
And we remember:
We always have a choice.
Even when we feel buried.
Even when we feel lost.
Even when the road ahead is unclear.
Reclaim What’s Already Inside You
This year, may you reclaim the mission that’s already inside you—
Not fueled by pressure, but by presence.
Not by striving, but by awareness.
Not by fear, but by intention.
The choice is yours.
With you in the journey,
Josh
Josh Neuer is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Greenville, SC.
Josh’s Life’s Work is to Make Room for Hope and Healing. Josh is Passionate about Empowering Meaningful Change in People with Counseling, Coaching and Consulting. He is the founder of Joshua Neuer, LLC, a committed husband and father, and is absolutely crazy about relationships!
Josh Neuer, Licensed Professional Counselor, Coach and Consultant
Founder, Joshua Neuer, LLC Counseling
Josh@JoshNeuer.com
Visit JoshNeuer.com