The Purpose Puzzle
Life can feel like a relentless race sometimes, always running to that ever-elusive finishing line. Our minds racing towards checking off on the “checklist” of items that once achieved we can go atop a mountain and declare “I have made it!”
Get a good job, work hard, make money, get married, support a family — these are noble goals. Yet, all too often we accept this age-old concept and we get locked into the “rat-race of existence”. This article was written for you to question these natural assumptions of what is expected of you, what you should do to continue the machinations of family, society, and culture at large. Yet one integral piece of the puzzle we forget is “Impact” and “Purpose”.
We complete education and join the workforce but how many of us are taught to discover our purpose? It is against the grain to truly take time to go inward and truly figure out what matters to you personally. The impact you want to leave behind given your unique talents, experiences, and passions. Our time on this planet is limited and it is vital to undertake that inner journey to truly discover who were are and what we are meant to contribute.
This is a personal struggle that I have had for many years. As a child, I found tremendous joy in creating things and offering that to others. Be it a crayon drawing or a plasticine sculpture. But growing up I was taught to abandon my childish fancies and focus on what I was “expected to do”. Study hard; get into a good college get a good respectable job. Like a commandment set in stone, I was trying to grapple with two differing realities. What my inner child wanted and what I was expected to do.
I think most of us grapple with this conflict to some extent. Some choose to distract themselves from the existential angst of not being completely true to themselves. I chose that path for many years, and I felt half-alive, a zombie trudging through life having to fulfill the gaping internal chasm that can never be truly filled.
The distractions continued but then it got to a point where the pain became unbearable and I had to re-access my life. I was constantly torn between realities- of how things are and how they should have been.
I was pining for the failures, self-flagellating over missed opportunities, mistakes, and regrets. I was missing the integral puzzle piece — purpose and true north.
It is an unnerving lump of anxiety to live a life not being true to who you are.
Finally, I was ready — to take an internal deep dive. To try to decipher what my purpose was and how I can stop being so bitter inside and blame everything for my failings. I read a lot, listened to a lot of inspiration and finally learned to be really quiet and ask some important questions to my fragmented self.
1. What is important to you?
2. What is keeping yourself from doing what is important to you?
3. What are some things that you, and only you are uniquely designed to create — based on the unique life experiences that you have had?
4. If you had to reframe your entire life, not from what people expect from you or what happened but with what I can do right now that is attuned to joy and aliveness. What would that be?
5. What is something I can act upon in the direction towards my dreams — right this moment given what I have at hand?
I found the answers quick — It spoke in a soft voice but it was stern — Create, Make, Share your stories. With the act of sharing others might get more in touch with who they are.
This all made sense, much more than chasing a fad, or a career in demand or mindlessly chasing the “$$$”
We are all unique in our internal makeup and we all have something special to share with the world. There will be constant shouting to detract from your dreams and the fear of taking action. Relentless echoes of doom and gloom will pour through the media and public. Your job is to tune them out. Get silent and become present to what is right now. What is the voice that you have choked out for so long trying to tell you? It doesn’t shout, it doesn’t scream — it simply whispers and waits for you to acknowledge its presence.
The voice of purpose and what we are meant to create. Heed it, nurture it, and take action on it. It will most definitely morph and change with time but the essence will always remain- your truth.
The Purpose Puzzle
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