What Does “Finding Your Purpose” Really Mean?

It feels like a coming-of-age conversation that we all experience in our teens: What do you want to be when you grow up? What college are you going to? What are you plan on becoming? What are you majoring in? What are your future plans?

It’s a time in our lives when we are faced with the reality that childhood is over and we’re forced into adulthood by coming up with a single decision for our future. This is the time when you define your purpose in life.

What are we meant for? Why are we here? What is our purpose?

The search for purpose in life has increased over the years and research shows that this constant state of defining our purpose actually promotes anxiety. The feeling that we need a defined mission in order to live life the right way can lead people to endlessly search for what they think they need.

Growing up in the 90s, which was the height of capitalism in America, becoming outwardly successful was what people defined as a purpose-driven life. What you did in the external world was of the utmost importance and in some form, it continues to be that way.

We’ve become used to identifying ourselves to the outside world with titles such as cook, lawyer, mailman, mother, writer, clerk, teacher, executive, editor, salesman, the list can go on. It’s these singular titles that make the search for purpose feel impossible because we’re told to choose one thing to focus all of our attention on for years to come.

Why are human beings so focused on finding purpose?

It’s simple — purpose gives us a sense that we are here in this life for a reason. It gives us a sense of certainty that we are not wasted space and are destined to accomplish something, we just need to find out what that something is.

During my years of finding purpose, I was always trying new things and when it didn’t work out I would hop onto another thing and then another. I felt absolutely lost and thought that maybe I was one of those people who would wander aimlessly in life never knowing my true purpose and that terrified me.

Today, young adults believe that finding purpose is nothing like the way it use to be when I was growing up. With the rise in mental health and wellness information spread across the media, today’s teens are discovering age-old practices that have been around for hundreds of years. The difference is now these practices and principles of purpose are more accessible and visible than ever before.

The purpose is not a title as human beings are not meant to be pigeonholed into a title. We are multifaceted people with endless dreams and visions of how we want our world to be. We do not find purpose in external accolades.

We find purpose through living and as we learn from the good and the bad events in life. If we can discover a way to find beauty and meaning in our day-to-day life, that is how we find our purpose.

The more we can connect with finding meaning in the day-to-day, the more we peel back the toxic layers of titles and the deeper we understand who we really are. This is the result of mindfulness.

We are multifaceted human beings who have experiences every day of our lives. To constrain our energy and livelihood to a single phrase or title is impossible. Change is inevitable not just in the outside world, but within ourselves so instead of forcing your purpose into a title let it go.

We are not meant to simply exist but to live and finding our purpose means finding our own way to live. So what does finding your purpose really mean? It means finding your own unique way to live in the moment. The purpose of your life is to live. How simple is that?

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