The Importance Of Purpose
We often find ourselves asking questions like who am I? Where is my place in all of this thing we call life? What is my purpose? These can be very tough questions to answer. If you don’t have them answered, don’t fret… Philosophers have mulled over them for thousands of years. I suppose there is no right or wrong answer to these questions. However, there are effective ways to go about creating meaning, purpose and an identity. Such as having goals or an aim that we deem greater than ourselves… or more simply just focusing on what you feel passionate about. Do we have to create meaning, purpose or an Identity? If you want a sustainable happy living developing these things can do wonders on the journey of life. A famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Life has a lot of storms and having no purpose only makes the waters a lot more rough.
It can be really difficult to find time to create meaning and purpose. Most people have to do what they must to pay for a living. Not everyone has the opportunities to work a job they feel passionate about. It seems most people don’t find much meaning in the workforce. Rarely do we have time to do the things that we feel passionate about… you know the things that fill us with meaning, purpose and passion. It may be a difficult road at times… but we must do whatever it takes to pursue the things that bring us meaning and passion. It doesn’t have to be big steps. A step in the right direction is a step towards fulfillment. Essentially we have to replace the things that we do for pleasure after a long exhausting day with some kind of purpose. You see, pleasure is short term satisfaction, easily depleted and leaves us feeling empty. However, purpose is a long term satisfaction leaving us feeling fulfilled and strong. So those late night Netflix binges or the weekly shows on DVR have to be replaced with things that you feel passionate about. It can be hobbies, it can be helping others in whatever way you feel is helpful. Finding an aim or having a goal that we feel is bigger than us pays dividends; An aim or goal that seems or feels selfless.
If you can lock onto a purpose that feels selfless and move in that direction it will do wonders for handling the adversities of life. Having meaning or purpose creates great value. Healthy hobbies can also help us grow this value. Once we know our value we begin to understand our worth and who we are. Knowing your worth makes adversity and the slights of others seem insignificant. If we do not do these things we feel lost at times. Once that happens we tend to seek meaning from other people… wearing different mask just to appease someone else to hold value. Having no sense of value or purpose is almost like free falling. As we fall we tend to grab on to anything without paying much attention to what we are grabbing. Most of the time these are toxic pleasures. This usually just ends up making us fall faster. Going down this road may be inevitable at times so try not get to caught up in it happening. The journey of life can be full of difficult ups and downs. However, if you can find the strength to take a step in the direction of an aim or goal you can grow substantially. This growth really does create a fill in the void of who we aspire to be. Elevating the desire to cling to unhealthy things. A sense of purpose and meaning creates a sense of self. When you know who you are… you become immovable to the toxic negativity of the broken and the lost. It all starts with one step in the direction of creating a better you. As cliche as it may seem… A better you, is a better everyone.
