People who have already found their purpose would say that it is about recognizing your own talent, how you touch other people’s lives, or having a career. But what could work for others may not always work for you since life’s purpose is unique for everyone?
Our purpose in life could influence our behavior, shape our future and give meaning as to why we are living. Read along with this article and discover ways how you can find purpose and achieve your ultimate fulfillment. Develop your core values start living a more purposeful life.
Why Do We Seek Life Purpose?
Imagine yourself waking up in a pitch dark room, and you decided to do random things to make your time worthwhile. This is how your life is without a clear purpose. Some people get stuck waking up every day doing the job that they hate feeling lost and without a purpose in life. Living your life in this manner could leave you unsatisfied and bored in the end.
Having a purpose in life makes our existence more meaningful and fulfilling. You have to realize that we are free to do whatever we want to create meaning and find our sense of purpose in life. But some are hesitant to pursue their true purpose, thinking that it could be a selfish quest tipping the balance of their perfect life.
There are two things that keep us from finding purpose:
Uncertainty
We don’t know what could happen after taking the leap. You could lose that picture-perfect family, the house, or the promotion that you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
The need for standardization and stability is a human need. We love to stay inside our comfort zone to protect ourselves from getting hurt and failures. But this can also prevent you from growing and finding your life’s true passion.
Limiting Beliefs
Remember when you were a child, and your parents told you that you have to study well and earn a degree to find a high-paying job in the future? Our sense of purpose is sometimes blinded by the fact that we are expected to follow certain social standards. Those can be the self-limiting beliefs that stop you.
This type of mentality limits our behavior thinking that we are not good enough to do what makes us happy. Fearing failures hinders us from pursuing a more meaningful life.
How to Find Purpose And Live A Meaningful Life
The benefits of a purpose-driven life are limitless. It is not just about having a successful career, big dreams, or earning more money, but it is about having meaningful goals and finding out what you truly desire.
Re-evaluate Yourself
You may be living your current life doing the same old routine every day, making yourself believe that you have everything that you want and you’re on the right path. But you won’t be reading this article if you truly believe that you do. You have this strong sense of urgency in your gut, saying that you can do so much more but are afraid to risk it.
We are given the free will to do whatever makes us happy and the ability to live our own life. Everything that we need to live an extraordinary life is within us. We just need to discover what we want and feel passionate about. The only thing that keeps us from doing this is limiting beliefs.
Take Control of Your Own Life
Your life’s Purpose is the link between what you love and how others can benefit from it. It is when your service to others and your passion are in sync, making you feel fulfilled and the sense that you’re on the right track. Finding purpose is recognizing your talents and figuring out how to use them to make a difference in the world.
Finding your purpose in life can be a lifelong journey. It requires a lifetime of self-actualization and trying to discover where your passions lie. When you do find it start unlocking the extraordinary life. Do not let your fears and anxiety get the best of you. Take ownership and live the life you always wanted.
Wait For Your Turn
There are certain moments in our lives when we meet people who seem to have already figured out their purpose. Successful people who are happy and contented with their lives become our role models.
We also wanted to live life with a purpose, but sometimes things just do not go the way we plan. Or in the time frame that we are expecting it to happen. Be patient.
Some of us may have already found our purpose and felt fulfillment way back but lost it after some time. Don’t be discouraged. Allow yourself to grow and change. Your purpose can also evolve and shift throughout your life in response to changing circumstances and priorities.
Challenge Limiting Beliefs
There are beliefs and behavior that other people had instilled in you back when you were a child. It gets reinforced every time you fail at something or get rejected. Your accomplishments get ignored, and your mistakes, magnified. Challenge these negative beliefs and start developing your own core values.
Your beliefs can influence how you perceive yourself, interpret things, and behave. Reframe your limiting behaviors by improving your skill and finding the sources you need to make positive changes in your life.
Stop Comparing Yourself
Finding life’s purpose can happen when you stop comparing yourself with others. You have been so focused on seeking praises and approval from others that you started to lose track of your own purpose in life. Follow your inner compass and stop imagining yourself in other people’s shoes.
Focus on discovering yourself and what excites you to jump out of bed in the morning. Start spending time with positive people who do not criticize you when you make decisions that are out of the social norm. People like your family and friends who got your back when you decided to follow your dreams.
Give Yourself Room to Grow
Try to understand yourself on a deeper level. Know your strengths and the factors that can pull you down. This will help you gain more confidence and may even improve your mental health.
It takes time to develop your talents and get a clear idea of what you want in life. The hardest part of discovering how to find purpose is letting go of your negative identities and other interests that you don’t need. Let your purpose grow and evolve with you. Be flexible and listen to your innermost needs and desires.
Focus On Motivations: The motivation to find purpose comes in two forms
- Intrinsic Motivations. The type of motivations derived from our sense of meaning in life.
- Extrinsic Motivations. Are usually measured by external factors like good grades, employment position, high salaries, and medals.
Finding the balance between this motivation is important in discovering the reason for your existence. The lack of awareness of your own needs can leave you believing a false idea of your purpose, one that is based on other people’s expectations. Fulfillment begins with our innermost self.
The Importance of Having a Purpose in Life
Living life without a purpose is just like sailing in the middle of the sea without any direction or destination. You just flow wherever the current takes you. You won’t experience any sense of fulfillment, joy, or accomplishment and forever be in search of happiness.
The idea of sailing towards a destination is something that you could look forward to. Having that kind of goal could give meaning to the whole journey. Plus, living a life with a purpose has its emotional and psychological benefits.
Having a Purpose Strengthen Resilience
Resilience is essential for people to overcome and process life’s hardships. Investing your time and effort to discover the main reason for your existence can set up your success in the long run. Having a clear direction of what you want to do with your life makes it easier to rise back up whenever you fail or encounter problems.
Setting up for professional goals, for example, can be difficult if your purpose is not aligned with it. When you know what you want it will give you the courage and determination to do everything to get it. Every time you get rejected or turned down, being resilient can help you bounce right back up to fulfill your goal.
Purpose influence Physical Health
Research done in 2019 found out that adults who have recognized their life’s purpose live longer than those afraid to acknowledge theirs. They define purposeful life as a self-organizing process to stimulate goals and can boost healthy behaviors.
Knowing our purpose gives meaning to our lives. It makes us want to live longer and to continue doing what we love. It inspires us to protect our health and overcome stressors.
On the other hand, individuals who feel lost will restlessly search for their life’s purpose. They are more likely to have a negative sense of well-being, affecting their mood, ability to think, and social relationships.
Having a Purpose Can Start Your Life
Deep down, you know that you want to live the best time of your life doing what you are passionate about and ignoring what others say when you do.
The path to happiness starts when you find your purpose. This means that if your goals are not aligned with your purpose, you can do a million tasks for the next ten years pursuing these goals, only to find out that this is not what you wanted.
Conscious life begins when every single task you do matters. This can only happen when you start setting your goals with a purpose.
Living a Life of Meaning
Stop wasting your time on a job that you hate and work towards a career that fits your purpose. When you pursue what you love, it gives meaning to life. You won’t be dragging your feet to work anymore.
The first thing to do is to determine your passion. Once you know what you want, you can start pursuing a career to follow it. If you are unsure, try taking career assessments and evaluations to help you choose a potential career path that’s right for you.
A One-Two Punch Guide in Finding Out What Are You Passionate About
Step 1: Is to Answer these Soul Baring Questions
- How would you like to spend your time if you have all the money in the world?
- Describe a perfect day in detail.
- Describe activities that set your soul on fire.
Dive deep in your thoughts and answer these questions with whatever comes to mind. Shut off your mental filters and self-judgment when answering them.
Once the answers are in hand, we will take a stroll down your memory lane and dig up more answers to help us learn how to find purpose.
Back when you were a child, you felt more playful and alive. That is because the outside world has not shaped your mind yet. You have control and direct access to tour purpose and passions.
We all had dreams as a child. We already know what we enjoy and love doing but decided to give them up for practicality. Now try to scroll deeper and have a glimpse of your childhood wisdom.
Step 2: Connect With Your Inner Child
- What brought you happiness as a child?
- What are the activities that make you lose track of time?
- What are the activities that you enjoy that your parents have to drag you away from?
- What are the things that you love to do before the world asked you to be practical?
Try keeping your mind in an open place when you try to find your purpose. Look at pictures of yourself when you were a kid or grab a toy that you cherish that can jog your memory of the past. By doing this activity, it can help you remember and place a finger on what you truly desire.
Childhood is not just to fuel nostalgia, and psychologists use it to help us explore how we became who we are today. Others even believe that it holds the key to adult happiness.
What Does A Lack Of Purpose Feel Like?
Being able to find your purpose in life will give you the feeling that you’re in the right direction. You know what you want, and no one can stop you from getting it. You suddenly won’t care about what others think because you are doing something important for yourself that no one can tell you otherwise.
Pursuing that purpose does not require you to succeed in it, but the journey will give you that sense of fulfillment rather than the destination.
On the contrary, experiencing a lack of purpose will make you feel constantly bored, empty, and dissatisfied with your life. You might find yourself anxious to find meaning in your existence. You might also feel hopeless, numb, and desperate to find excitement and pleasure in everything that you do.
Living life without a purpose can cause depression and self-isolation, leading to mental issues.
Lack Of Direction Can Hinder A Fulfilling Life
Having no purpose in life can slowly build up over time and later make you realize that you are upset and confused, seeing that this is not how you envisioned life.
The lack of clarity and direction will keep you from sharing your thoughts and feelings with others for fear that no one will understand you. This can lead to self-isolation and the need to bury yourself deeper away from the outer world.
In psychotherapy, positive psychology may help resolve these issues. It is a form of psychology that can emphasize the positive influences in your life. It focuses on a person’s optimistic emotions and strengths. It helps troubled individuals appreciate happiness and have a better life.
The psychotherapy for lack of direction and purpose includes:
- Exploring your values and goals and helping you find ways to align these values with your life.
- Understanding your true identity and enhancing self-awareness to help you connect more with yourself
- Help you plan a journey to discover yourself, explore your needs and desires, and the fears that inhibit you from reaching your highest potential.
- Allows you to get access to your inner creativity
- Teaches you how to accept what you can not change about yourself and lets you focus on the things that can give you happiness and purpose.
- Helps you heal wounds from the past and gives you the courage to move forward
Psychotherapy can help you understand what you have been going through right now and will help you integrate healthier ways to manage your life as you move on.
Final Thoughts
Feelings of being undriven and loss are something that most of us had already experienced at certain points in our lives. Instead of letting the current decide the direction of your life, spending time to figure out the path that gives your life meaning and purpose can be worthwhile.
Life’s purpose is unique for everyone as it is designed based on your genetic makeup, the environment you were raised in as a child, and your skillset. Finding our purpose in life can be a lifelong journey, but finding it will give you that feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment.
If you still need help finding your true purpose in life, book an appointment with us at Kentucky Counseling Center (KCC). Each member of KCC are highly trained, professional, certified, and experienced in providing optimal mental care for Kentucky and Ohio residents. KCC also offers Online Telehealth Counseling Services via online appointments for your convenience.
