The Many Perspectives of Finding Your Purpose

The Many Perspectives of Finding Your Purpose

Expect Your Purpose to Evolve Over Time

The purpose that you have in life won’t necessarily be the same thing that someone else experiences. The journey that you’re on could take you in a completely different direction, even if you start at the same place as another person.

For example, you might decide early in life that you want to be a dancer. Your high school friend decides the same thing. Then decades later, she’s a dancer while you run a business.

That’s because what you go through in life and how you react to your own unique experiences will often shape your purpose. Many people get confused about the timeline of purpose.

They mistakenly believe they have to stay on a single, steady path throughout life. Sometimes, purpose will go on the same for years before time passes, interests and obligations change, and you feel like your path needs to be altered.

For example, when a person is young, it might be that they wanted to be an athlete. Maybe they felt like their purpose in life was to become a basketball champion. So they followed athletics from high school into college.

Maybe they even had an athletic scholarship. Time kept marching on, however and that person then reached the age where they just got too old for that purpose – or found another interest.

You’ll often see this when you see people in their thirties retiring from a sport. Either their body could no longer handle the sport, they got tired of it, or their life’s purpose is now taking them in a different direction.

Sometimes, people go through a time in life where relationship changes alter their purpose. For example, it could be that the person gets married. Or they become a parent.

That can quickly change your life purpose. What seems like a tried and true purpose for a single person will often not be the same as a married person, because you have someone else to consider and you’re meshing two lives into one.

Maybe you’ve worked at a business or a career and you’ve established yourself as an authority figure. Others look to you for your expertise. This can also feel like your purpose – to provide guidance.

As time continues, you start to realize that you need to move into coaching and helping others with their personal development. This too can feel like a purpose. Your life will go through various phases.

What might be your purpose right now may not be the same six months from now. You might have a new purpose – a unique one that time is waiting to unveil. Your purpose will continue to fluctuate and each time it does, you can encounter more opportunities and end up with life changes that are rewarding.

Finding your purpose is a task that should be flexible, yet something you’re committed to at the same time. You don’t want to keep changing course so that you never achieve any of your intended goals.

But once you find a path you’re fairly sure will fulfill you, take time to spread your wings and see what potential it has. For example, if you loved animals as a child, you may have had a desire to work at the zoo, which could mean cleaning cages.

As you grew up, you might have dug deeper and decided to be an animal trainer or a veterinarian. Then you wanted more – and chose to pursue a zoo animal surgeon. Maybe you decide to open your own animal rescue or write books about caring for pets. Recognize the opportunities, give each one consideration, and take it to a level that will satiate that inner desire you have to do more, be more and give more to the world. Never settle for less than what you want.

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