THE POINT OF A PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

I’m not a huge video game fanatic. That said, I do enjoy a select few titles. The “God Of War” series being one of them. As I sat down and played through God Of War 3 again, I had an odd thought.

In life, we must have a goal. A pursuit. Something that we strive and go the distance for. Pour our sweat and guts into achieving, so that when we take our final breath, we can leave this world with great pride and satisfaction, knowing  we discovered our purpose, acted on and realised it.

For Kratos (God Of War protagonist) the loss of his family and his quest for vengeance on all those responsible for their murder is his driving force. His purpose. He’s consumed with it and stops at nothing until he completes his objective.

Ultimately he reaches his goal, (bringing the whole of mighty Olympus crashing down in the process). Yet after all that, he’s left empty. He exacted his revenge, but nothing he could ever do would bring back his family.

Once again, he became a man without purpose. The objective had concluded. The purpose served.

What’s the whole point of this scenario?

It’s all fine and well discovering your purpose and knowing “where you want to go in life.” You maybe one of the enlightened few that actually knows where they’re headed and are actively taking all the necessary steps to get there.

But!!!

Sometimes, even after achieving your DREAM/ GOAL/ PURPOSE, you may feel a little empty. In society nowadays, people are led to believe that the next gadget/electronical gizmo will give them ever lasting happiness.

While the fun may last a day, week or month, eventually it subsides and you’re back to square one. Looking for the next “big thing” and going through the damn cycle again.

The same thing can happen with goals, aspirations and “purpose.” There are people who achieve everything they want to and yet, they’re still not truly satisfied. What they thought was their purpose and path in life, turned out to be  nothing more than a stepping-stone leading to another goal.

What they perceived as their purpose, was more of a hurdle. A little drop in the ocean. A road paving the way to their ultimate destination.

We need purpose to give life meaning. Without purpose we have no real value, and if we don’t find the value in ourselves neither will others.

Agent Smith said it best in the matrix.

“There’s no escaping reason, no denying purpose, for as we both know, without purpose we would not exist. It is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us; it is purpose that defines us, purpose that binds us.”

Without purpose we can drift through life, never smelling the sweet scent of satisfaction, success and contentment. We’d never fully understand and reach our dreams and goals.

So how do you discover your true purpose in life?

Great question. Thought you’d never ask. I could bullshit you and give you the general, “When you’re happy doing what you’re doing, you’ve discovered your true calling.”

Sure it works for some people for a while. But lets face the music. We’ve all been happy doing something at one time or another, but realised that we couldn’t find ever lasting happiness and satisfaction doing it. We got some happiness and satisfaction out of it but it was only temporary.

I know people that were over the moon in a particular career, truly believing it was their purpose. They were made for the job and had found their calling in life. (Or so they thought).

Yet after some time the wild fire was reduced to a mere flame. They gradually lost interest.

The passion turned to bane. Ultimately, they changed career paths, walking down the road of self-discovery, trying to rediscover their true purpose again.

The truth is, there’s no one size fits all approach to finding purpose.

I think identifying your true purpose is as much an internal pursuit as it is external. You have to ask your self some honest questions that demand, honest, serious answers. Have the guts and respect for yourself, to answer them with total honesty, even if the results are less than satisfactory.

• How passionate/committed am I with my identified career path/endeavor/purpose?

• Could I really see myself doing it for a lifetime?

• On a scale of 1-10 (1 being lowest) how happy am I really with my perceived purpose?

• Am I willing to put everything on the line to achieve my dream?

• Am I able to enjoy the beauty in life, whilst pursuing my goals and purpose?

If you can answer all those questions honestly with the majority of answers being positive, you’re probably headed in the right direction to discovering your purpose.

This is something that you won’t figure out in one night. You may have to sit down with a pen and notepad and have a real hard think about it. This isn’t a decision that you can just blindly make. Take time, pride and enjoy the show.

Remember, it ain’t over till it’s over. As long as you’re still breathing, there’s still time for you to discover your calling.

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO IN LIFE? LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW. 

DISCOVERY AND PURPOSE