Knowing Your Purpose; A Smoother Life- Thriving with Depression Series (Part 23)

 

Welcome back to the Thriving with Depression Series! Thank you for joining me on my adventure! 

To view the full series, check out our archive! As a reminder to new readers, you can start anywhere, even here as articles do not need to be read in any particular order. 

This article is a continuation of the topic about You and Your Purpose. Please feel free to see the last four articles Why Am I Here, The Purpose of Life; Getting Better; Finding You; Your Purpose Explored; and You and Your Purpose.

Before we get started, I want to review the process along with what we discussed in the last four articles. 

To Review:

• Why Am I Here? To Become a Better Person

• How? Learning>Improvement>A Better You

• What does it mean to be a better you?Learning who you are and implementing the golden rule (attending to your own needs as well as the needs of others).                      
• How Does Knowing This Affect Your Life? Focusing on this makes your life smoother.

Article 1: Why am I here?

We are here to become better people. Life is about growing and becoming the best you.

I believe this is life's purpose. From the time we are born until the time we die, we are learning. We are always learning and growing. 

Article 2: The Purpose of Life; Getting Better

So why are you here? What is the purpose? 

I can't answer all the questions that probably come to mind. But my hypothesis is that we are here to learn, improve, and ultimately become better people- you are here to become the best version of you. 

You do this by learning about yourself; in particular what your skills and talents are.

Article 3: Finding you; Your Purpose Explored

You do this by looking into (1) What you are good and/or passionate about and (2) what your personality is like. 

Article 4: You and Your Purpose

In this article, I discuss exploring how you can become a better you by focusing on your passions (evaluating your own needs) while still taking into account how your actions affect those around you (evaluating the needs of others). Part of becoming a better person is to understand and live the Golden Rule. 

Now that we finished the review portion. Let's get on with the topic of this article: Knowing Your Purpose; A Smoother Life. 

How can this make your life smoother; especially if engaging in your life purpose affects your
relationship with your family or friends? Because smoother is not the same thing as easier. Working towards our goals is not always easy. Depending on what they are, they can take months, years, or even decades to come to fruition. Let's take an Olympic athlete for example. We see them standing on the podium receiving a medal. But what we don't see is everything they had to do to get there. Think of everything we don't see:

• Getting up to practice their sport when most of us are still asleep.
• Going to school and any other responsibilities they may have.
• Returning to the rink/gym/pool/track to practice their sport some more. 
• Giving up social functions with friends and family due to practice time.
• Friendships are often limited to fellow competitors in their sport because they have no time to be around other children/people. 
• Diets may be stricter to ensure they get enough protein and nutrients to help with their performance.
• Frequent injuries, discomfort, or pain due to constant physical activity.
• No time for other hobbies or activities.
• No time for romantic relationships. 

But for the Olympic athlete that wins a medal, they will usually say it was worth it. Their life definitely wasn't easier, but it was smoother. Smoother means even and uninterrupted in flow or flight. When you are doing what you are meant to do, your life flows. It makes sense to you. You are living a life that has meaning and value to you. So, what about the athlete that has put in the same amount of work and sacrifice but did not make it to the Olympics? They may still feel the same way. Perhaps they did not win an Olympic medal, but they surely won other competitions, trophies, or awards. The bottom line comes down to if this was their passion or they were forced into it because it was their parent's dream. If it was their passion, dream, desire then living it will make their life better, smoother. They will be more fulfilled.  

The same is true for anyone who spends days, years, even decades working towards their goal and pursuing their passion. No matter if they are pursuing a sport, studying to become a doctor, or working to become a high-end chef. Their life is not easier but smoother. They are becoming who they are meant to be. 

So, what if you made the choice (for whatever reason) not to pursue your passion in your younger
years? Is it too late? Let's say you are 60 and wanted to compete in ice skating when you were a child, but it would have been a financial burden on your family. You felt guilty so you didn't pursue it. It is not too late. Granted, you won't be going to the National Championships or the Olympics. But the goal is NOT the accolades but pursuing your passion. You can still get involved in ice skating. Follow the current skaters. Volunteer to help during sporting events. Help sponsor a child who is talented but whose family cannot afford training. It is never too late!