What’s Our Purpose?

Do we have one? Do we need one?

Growing up, we’re always told that either one of the following two lies: (1) your purpose is to live for God and please him, or (2) your purpose is to do well in the world, make good money, and live a nice life. I say these are both lies because they’ve forced us to think that purpose only evolves around religion or monetary value. And this is completely wrong. While some people do find their purpose while being fully devoted to God, or being committed to becoming a billionaire, I think most people only follow these paths because they don’t know better.

While I come from a religious background, my parents have pushed both these ‘purposes’ onto me. My father, being a business man, has always tried to push us to do well financially, while my mother, a homemaker, has always pushed us to be closer to our God. Because of this, I’ve found it hard to find my purpose, to figure out what I truly want to do. While it can be argued, that those two factors are important to have in our lives, I believe that we need to focus more on what makes us happy, as individuals, rather than what makes society content.

So how do we find our purpose? While I’m not some sort of trained coach in this matter, or in any matter really, I’d like to offer some things I’m working on which are helping me find my purpose.

One thing I like to do is to find the answers to the following questions:
- What makes me happy?
- What’s the one thing that I would wake up at any time to happily do?
- What word would I used to describe myself?
While these are fairly simple questions, I’ve found that I change the answer to them every time I ask myself these, and I think that once I find a consistent answer, that’s when I’ve found something that’s linked to my purpose.

I know a lot of people also like to journal and reflect on their day and on their thoughts. While this is amazing, and I’m impressed with those who do this, I haven’t yet found a stable enough schedule where I’m able to journal everyday. (I know this just sounds like an excuse but I prefer talking things out rather than writing them down, so I’m just bad at making time for it.) I honestly think any activity which allows you to reflect on your thoughts can work like journaling. When there’s a lot on my mind, I like to go for runs because it lets me think things through and gives me time to be alone.

I think what you should get out of this is that you shouldn’t listen to others when it comes to finding your purposes (especially not boomers or the older generations), you should be aware of yourself and your persona, and finally and most importantly, you should self-reflect to truly understand what you want.