Finding your purpose in life is not an easy thing to discover.
In fact, it can be quite burdensome having the weight of that question targeted at you; ‘What is your life purpose?’
Do you ever sit there and wonder what it is you’re doing here? What is the reason for you getting up in the morning, does your life on Earth have any impact? Any MEANING?
What hope do we have of living a good life if we don’t know what we’re living for? Right?
I’ve sat in my pj’s with a glass (bottle) of wine and a bag of popcorn and let the foot-sock moisturizer-masks work their magic whilst pondering these very questions.
I know that from a young age, like most, I have flitted back and forth between plenty of desired dream jobs and careers. I remember wanting to be a doctor when I was about 10 years old until I watched an episode of ‘Casualty’ and the dream was quickly destroyed.
Because at that age you don’t have a great understanding of what the reality of these careers entails. You simply imagine the glory of saving someone’s life, for example.
The truth is, not much changes as we grow up.
Constantly we ebb and flow through life maneuvering around obstacles and changing direction as and when is needed. We can never fully KNOW our purpose until we go out and find it.
Life’s purpose will not come and sit itself on our lap, no. That would be far too easy and that is possibly the most important thing about finding meaning and fulfillment – it’s HARD WORK.
Life can make it difficult for us to discover why the hell we’re here on this planet.
With that said, in this article, I’m going to specifically delve into why it’s so important to find your purpose (zero stress and zero pressure). I would love to sit here and say, ‘you know what, it really doesn’t matter! If you’re happy without the meaning, without the purpose, and without the fulfillment then just sit back and enjoy the ride of life.’
Unfortunately that would just be too damn simple, wouldn’t it?
Believe it or not there are a lot of you out there who have convinced yourselves that actually, you don’t have a life purpose. That nothing brings you meaning, you have no true desires or passions and that you’re destined to coast through life feeling perfectly content this way.
The truth is, we all have a REASON for living and each and every one of us has a purpose out there, somewhere, waiting for us to discover.
Below, I’m going to take you through the ‘why’ of ‘why is it so important to find your life purpose?‘ and in this FREE E-BOOK I will guide you, in greater depth through the ‘HOW to find your purpose’.
Download the E-book straight to your inbox to help your change your understanding of finding your purpose and hopefully make it more accessible to you.
WHAT DOES ‘FINDING YOUR PURPOSE’ ACTUALLY MEAN?
In basic terms, when we are talking about finding your purpose we are really talking about finding that things that bring meaning to your life.
Something that fulfills you on a deeper, more personal level than the type of joy that you might get from superficial or materialistic things.
I think a very important distinction to make here is that when we are presented with this idea of ‘FINDING OUR PURPOSE‘ it can scare the living sh*t out of us.
It’s a pretty hefty ask, isn’t it?
However, it doesn’t have to be as extreme as all of that. Alright so, there are a handful of professions where it is pretty clear to see what life purpose might coincide with this career path.
For example; doctors, surgeon, nurses, carers, soldiers, firefighters, lifeguards etc..
These people (hopefully) save lives and even though it’s important never to assume, because sometimes our professions don’t align with our beliefs and values how we thought they might, we could predict that IF the beliefs and values of these individuals aligned with their professions then their purpose in life might be to save lives.
Make the world a better place. Care for people in the best way they can.
How could we possibly match that?!
‘I can’t SAVE LIVES Emma!’ Is this what i’m expected to live up to?…You might think.
Well, no, actually. And this is exactly my point. It’s such a grand statement isn’t it, to find your purpose in life, that we assume that it requires a grand answer.
This is simply not the case.
It is absolutely fabulous and IMPERATIVE that we have people like those above whose purpose is to save lives and help others but this does not effect you and yours.
To find your purpose means to find that thing (or things) that give YOU meaning in YOUR life. And it does not matter WHAT that might be, the feeling of fulfillment that it will provide you will match that of the doctor or firefighter.
Because fulfillment is personal. Meaning is personal and PURPOSE is personal. And this comes through knowing ourselves better as human beings by raising self-awareness and improving our emotional intelligence.
WHY IS FINDING YOUR PURPOSE SO IMPORTANT?
First of all, as you’re going along and reading this I do not want you to gather this feeling of impending doom and panic wondering, ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t have a purpose in life what am I going to do?!’
Breathe IN and breathe OUT.
Finding your purpose is a life long process and as I’ve said it’s not always easy to find. So, you’re not on your own and there’s no need to panic – we all get there at different stages and that’s OK.
Why is it so important to find your purpose in life?
Well, because when you find your life’s purpose it usually means that you know who you are. You understand your core values and beliefs and you are living your life in alignment with these values.
(So hint hint: getting super clear on your core values and beliefs is great way to begin down the path of HOW to find your purpose)
A lot of us live with a feeling of discomfort and dissatisfaction because we aren’t really taking action that reflects our values and beliefs so there is this constant underlying rub between what you are doing and what you SHOULD be doing.
It’s hard to find the motivation to keep searching when we’re feeling like we aren’t making anything of life. That we’ve got something to offer.
By living truthfully and honestly in accordance with your core values you can begin to understand what’s important and UNIMPORTANT to you and this will help give your purpose.
Ultimately you want to spend your time on this earth wisely and give as much energy to those things that you hold in high regard rather than wasting time and energy on the little nothings in life.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A LIFE LACKS MEANING?
I’m going to hit you with some hard truths now but I promise, it’s for your own good.
Have you ever heard of people reaching retirement and dropping dead within a month of finishing work?
Or perhaps you’ve heard of those rather sweet (in my opinion) stories of and elderly couple who pass away within a week of one another?
Well, of course these are EXTREME example but they express my point here very clearly. In both scenarios what could arguably have happened is that the retiree no longer has a reason to get up in the morning and neither does the second elderly person to pass away.
You can read a lot of studies which suggest that retirement is actually a critical time for us in our lives because suddenly we might find ourselves without a reason for waking up and getting out of bed in the morning.
It is suggested that you should never reach retirement without a retirement PLAN. This is simply a new era. Finding your purpose in life doesn’t end once your career does…
What new things will you try to learn? What places will you go that you’ve never had the chance to before? Who can you help that needs you?
These questions are not LIMITED for retirement but it helps to show you quite clearly what a lack of purpose can do to a human. It is no longer the case that simple survival with fulfill our day to day needs, we now need a REASON to LIVE.
A luxury that our ancestors did not have to consider – find food and drink and stay alive. The End. (Seems both harder and much easier than our ‘life purpose’ struggle, don’t you think?)
Without the WHY to the question ‘Why am I here? Why do I exist?’ Without the PURPOSE for living we might find ourselves in a pretty miserable existence.
It can be depressing, upsetting, and anxiety-inducing to imagine that we don’t have a reason to live BUT HAVING the PURPOSE, the reason to live in a strange twist of events, can be the greatest form of anxiety and stress relief.
That’s why it’s up to you to find it.
FINDING YOUR PURPOSE SHOULD BE A JOY NOT A CHORE
It takes courage and bravery to actually go after those things that mean something to us.
We live in a world governed by celebrities, influencers and the financially elite which give us a false impression of what purpose truly is. Purpose is deeper than money, objects and power.
Purpose goes beyond all of these surface luxuries, it is a luxury of the heart and soul. All of the above may appear to have exactly what we all desire; expensive cars, lavish lifestyles and perfect aesthetics but all of these mean NOTHING without a purpose for living.
This is why there are suicidal tragedies even among the rich and famous – they may have all the money in the world but are they living a life which aligns with their values? With this upsetting outcome, most likely not.
So, on a brighter note, finding your purpose should be a JOY and not a CHORE.
As I mentioned, it takes courage and bravery to give yourself this much focus and to actually live in accordance with your core beliefs but when you do this, even the struggle becomes worth it.
Even the failed attempts bring meaning and value to your life.
Finding your purpose is a constant on-going process and the goal posts will move throughout life. It’s up to you to adapt, readjust and follow what speaks to you on a deeper level.
Enjoy the process, try new things, get ready to fail and live in the uncomfortable.
It’s going to be great!
YOU’VE HAD THE ‘WHY’ NOW HERE’S THE ‘HOW’ TO FINDING YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE
You’ve been hopefully given and insight and understanding now into the importance of finding your purpose but how the hell do you even begin?!
You can download my FREE E-BOOK below – ‘Finding Your Purpose: The Questions That Might Help You Find An Answer’.
Hopefully you can use this guide to help you shift your perspective surrounding your life’s purpose. At the end of the day it’s all about your MINDSET. So read it with an open mind.
After a little bit more in-depth information I end the e-book with ’10 weird questions to help you find your purpose’.
This could be a great starting point for you. I hope you find it beneficial …
MOVE ON TO THE NEXT LESSON IN THIS GUIDE TO LIVING A GOOD LIFE: THE REAL MEANING OF COURAGE (5 MYTHS DEBUNKED)
