Refugee studies have emphasised the precarious condition of those who are forced to flee from their ‘home’ country, yet unable to end their flight by gaining the right to settle in another country. Such concern has generated a critical scholarly narrative of refugees’ displacement in a situation of rightless ‘permanent temporariness’ characterised by uncertainty, stasis and meaninglessness. This analysis of Abdul’s story of his refugee life explores how he, by foregrounding his pursuit of specific objectives, or ends, defined by personal, social or existential concerns, highlighted achievements and endings that engendered a sense of purpose, agency and empowerment despite his failure to reach the final end to his unsettled state as a refugee. This underscores the importance of not being blinded by powerful teleological narratives preoccupied with a final end that never comes, but recognising more specific, variegated ends and endings giving life direction and meaning even under difficult conditions.