WRITE NOW THERAPY!

Oh boy, this is a big one. If you think I’m going to answer life’s biggest mystery, I’m sorry. The answer to that question is different for every person and that is a good thing. Who would like to live someone’s else’s meaning in life? Certainly not me.

However, the answer to the meaning of your life isn’t as difficult as you may think. You have your own answer. In the movie, “City Slickers,” Billy Crystal is having a midlife crisis and he is challenged by the old cowboy, Curly, to find “his one thing.” The one thing in his life that means something to him.

FINDING PURPOSE

What this boils down to is each person needs to find their own, unique purpose in life. The one thing they were put on this earth to do.  That is what the meaning of life is: it’s a challenge to you to find your purpose. “Well, heck, I already know that is what I need to do but what it is?” I can’t answer that for you. However, I can help you find your way to that answer.

Everything in life has a purpose and when we look at the complexity of the natural world we can find every single thing has a place in the “circle of life.” A purpose can be something big or it can be something small but ultimately what you were designed for is uniquely your purpose. In fact, it is scriptural that God designed each person for a purpose (Proverbs 16:4).

Not finding it makes life all the more bigger a struggle. It makes life more difficult and it subjects you to more pain than you know what to do with. In many cases, lacking our purpose takes us down roads we wish we never traveled. Much of what happens to someone who commits crimes, winds up in addiction, or suffers greatly and becomes suicidal can be linked to a lacking purpose.

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Where there is no vision people perish. When we can’t see our purpose, we lack hope for our future which ultimately puts us on a path of struggle. If you are suffering from depression, addiction, or are battling low self-worth, it is very likely you do not know the purpose of your life.

YOU’RE NOT ALONE

The truth is you are not alone. I have been down the path you are and ultimately ended up with serious suicidal ideations that left me hospitalized. On the outside I looked like a happy husband and father who had a good job and owned a home. Life looked terrific on the outside. On the inside, I felt like I had little value. Self-hate was an overwhelming internal struggle that lead to severe depression and addiction which ultimately led to my need for serious mental intervention.

Through the course of my recovery, I found my vision of the future and had a plan and purpose. It was not a golden road from there on. There continued to be struggles and I certainly had doubts. It’s hard to believe something you don’t see. However, my struggle and journey led me to discover the three important things that every human needs in life:

1. You have to know who you are and be comfortably happy with that person. That person cannot be someone that world or others created. It has to be a genuine original person of individual creation and you must have the freedom to be that person.
2. You have to know how you openly express the person that you are to the world. If you are this new creation you must have a reasonable outlet to outwardly express who you are to the world.
3. You have to have a purpose. Once you have identified who you are and how you express who you are, what is your individual purpose in life based on who you are and how you express yourself.

FOUNDATION FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE

Identity, Expression, and Purpose (or IXP) are the foundation for the meaning of life. I can’t answer the meaning of life riddle for you but I can explain to you what you need to discovery for yourself and how to find it.

To find the meaning of life for you, think about these three questions and answer them for yourself:

Ask yourself who are you? (LINK)

Ask how you can express who you are as a person to the world (LINK)

Then find your own purpose based on how you define yourself and how you plan to express yourself. (LINK)

IT MAY NOT BE EASY BUT IT’S WORTH IT

Your journey to identify your true self, determine the outlet for expressing yourself and finding your purpose are are tied to you finding the meaning of life, your one and only life.

Some people know right away what their purpose is. “I’m going to be a teacher,” “I’m going to be a mother,” “I’m going to be an aircraft pilot.” How great it must feel to be so sure and committed to a course for your life. As easy as those things may sound, we all know they also come with obstacles along the way. Things happen that can throw you off course and things directions may need to be changed.

For others, like me, I grew up feeling like I would never amount to anything so dreaming was for other people. The idea you could be what you wanted and be happy doing it (whatever it was) was novel. Instead, I was trained that it was far better to find a good paying job, regardless of whether you liked it or not, because a steady income was more important that doing what you want.

How many of you grew up with this mentality? It took me years to figure out that I had so seriously pressured what I wanted to be do in my career that it was never even a consideration. Time played a huge part in being able to course correct that purpose. Unsure if I was able to get back to what I really wanted I found a path that aligned by talents with a worthwhile purpose. Think of the saying, “those who can – do. Those who can’t – teach.” Ouch! Yet, I will accept that logic as I find my purpose path in helping others align themselves with their purpose and kill those doubts in their own heads about what they can or can’t become.