Comments on: How do you know your life’s purpose?

By: Karen Hartline

Karen Hartline — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:17:16 +0000

Totally late to reading this and commenting, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me.
So often, we think we have to be a big deal…make a huge impact…change the world with our thoughts, words, deeds and truth be told, very few will ever be a Mother Theresa, Obama or Angelina Jolie. That does NOT mean that you aren’t making an impact. I would bet everyone who has left a comment, as well as others who have read and not commented, would agree that you’ve impacted our lives in some way.

I truly believe you should be passionate about what you’re doing. I mean, I got a freaking tattoo that says PASSIONATE (or at least that’s what I think it says). What you’re passionate about may be what pays the bills or maybe it’s volunteer work or offering your talent, thoughts, mentoring, couch, etc. to someone in need. When you find those things that you’re passionate about and start doing them on a regular basis, that passion will bleed into everything you do. It will carry you…if you let it.

Don’t be afraid to take some time to figure this out. I did this a few months ago. Sat on my couch, bawling, writing, trying to figure out what the eff was wrong with me and why I wasn’t happy. Job was alright, but I wasn’t passionate about it. I started thinking back to when I was really happy and what was going on during that time. BINGO–I was planning conferences (which was still stressful, but I loved it) and advising my sorority at a local university. I’ve connected with the local alumna chapter for my sorority about getting involved (but haven’t committed yet) and well, I’m in a new/old job that I LOVE–stress and all.

Any updates since January when you posted this? Miss your face! ~K

By: Leroy

Leroy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:20:06 +0000

I know the feeling. Wish I knew the answer. I’ve got a ‘dream job’ and I feel the same way. When my passion is with me I can accomplish anything. When it’s not work can be torture. What is the American dream anyway?

By: Corey Ward

Corey Ward — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:41:33 +0000

Sounds a lot like stuff I was struggling with a few months back, and still think about now, but I’ve found ways of keeping the what-is-my-purpose-blues from coming around. One of the ways is to keep yourself from ignoring it. Just like ignoring a dog that wants some food long enough makes it eat your shoes and piss on the floor to train you, ignoring your gut telling you it isn’t feeling full causes it to takeover a few days of your life with confusion and depression.

Side note: I always seem to be at the same restaurant/coffee shop within a few hours of you…maybe we could sync up those schedules and hang out for a few hours.

By: Marianne

Marianne — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:36:38 +0000

It’s funny that two of my favorite and creatively brilliant friends wrote posts about life’s purpose on the same day. Yours is asking a question and Kelsey Ruger’s(http://j.mp/7dyaSL) is my answer to you: Your life is an occasion—rise to it. If you think what you’re doing right now ‘isn’t working out’ or you don’t absolutely love it, only you have the power to change it up. I know you can and will do this. I’m looking forward to seeing the story unfold for you, Mr. Torres.

By: Michael Cummings

Michael Cummings — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:40:48 +0000

Interestingly enough I was just having a similar conversation about this with another friend, and talking about how they were unhappy because they felt they hadn’t found their purpose. While I understand the feeling, I also told her that its less about the purpose as your willingness and perseverance in doing something that you love.

You will always impact the world with what you do, and you really can’t plan for what that will be. The best you can do is to make sure you’re positively impacting your own life everyday. You can’t help the world if you can’t help yourself.

I’ve hit the reset button on my life the last few months. I needed it. I’m happier. I’m busier.

We have a ton of great friends as Becca mentioned who are the type that scares the hell out of the general population because of how smart and passionate we are. Our group is full of people off doing crazy things, and thinking up great ideas, and some of us are capitalizing on those ideas. You’re in the right group to help you achieve any goal you put yourself to achieving, and this is one thing that I knew, but didn’t know how to access before.

Quarter life crisis or not, we all have thoughts that we are not doing enough. Make a change… don’t change your desk… change your mentality if you can.

Stop daydreaming about what you want and go kick some damn ass…

- Michael

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:42:14 +0000

It’s tough to avoid cliches when writing about stuff like this, but I’m being sincere, here: It took me until my senior year in college to find something worth busting ass for. I had to set some very high, very abstract goals, and I finally realized one day that all the hard work… didn’t really feel like work at all.

That was my first revelation–finding something I loved doing. It’s not hard to muster Motivation when working is one of your favorite things.

A lot has changed since that revelation (namely, I’ve completely changed fields and career direction) but I used that feeling of “loving what I do” as a guide. But then came revelation #2: Don’t worry about your purpose. It’s already there.

It’s funny you use the deep-end-of-the-pool analogy, because I use that one a lot: diving into the deep end with your career path, and taking a risk to pursue that thing you love doing. But with all the risks and all the uncertainty, I think if you keep busting ass and love your work the path will unfold very naturally in front of you.

For me, it took
1) A realization that I loved the general field of science and wanted to integrate compassion into my every day life;
2) One big plunge–a gut-driven, impulsive decision to invest the rest of my twenties in getting an MD. Whoops! and
3) A commitment to that very abstract goal (doing something…anything…that is totally awesome).

I’ve left myself open to all the possibilities that “awesome” allows for, and it’s been like following an invisible magnet that gets a little stronger every day.

Our generation (and imho, our social group in particular) is pretty smart and enterprising. Assuming those three steps up there are even remotely universal, have faith about the whole path-unfolding-in-front-of-you thing. There’s not really any such thing as a dead end with Life Purposes. If indeed your current line of work “isn’t working out”–it’s just a process of elimination.

I fear that may have been too long and on the preachy side, so I apologize in advance. I warned you about the cliches!!

By: David Lunsford

David Lunsford — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:36:48 +0000

I think we should head to Progress soon, that’s what I think. Partly so we can chat about this subject, but mostly so I can open my Santa’s Secret envelope.

PS: I’m inclined to think that there are no easy answers for this, but there are many simple methods for discovery. It’s a highly individualized quest.

By: Jukebox

Jukebox — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:32:50 +0000

Most of the great people in life were great because they were true to themselves. They followed their heart, they mastered their passion.

That being said, most of the great people in life weren’t recognized until much after the fact of their life. Your happiness is your own, regardless of perceived impact.

In a nutshell, your purpose is excel at being you. In the end, that makes a difference.

By: Kristine

Kristine — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:22:17 +0000

Completing the quarter-life crisis cycle are we? Unfortunately, this seems to be an evergreen question. I think you’ll find that at every turning point or iteration in life, the nagging question of “purpose” will rear its ugly head. What I’ve found to be most comforting is to understand that the unknown is to be left as so. Being a control freak and overly Virgo, the sheer idea of this makes me want to throw stones at life. To keep sane, enjoying the now and what you’ve accomplished may be the best route. Otherwise, the purpose becomes more of a blindness.

But, really, what do I know. I’m obvi fighting my own crazy right now. :)

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln