Myths of the Hidden Treasure
There is a societal belief that purpose is hidden out in the world, waiting to be found. We treat it like a buried treasure or a winning lottery ticket. People spend the better parts of their lives searching for this purpose, or trying to find it hidden in something that they do.
Often, people try to find purpose in their work, vocation, or community. This is prevalent in positions of prestige, like doctors or lawyers, where they believe their purpose is to help people recover either physically or financially.
Searching for purpose, or holding onto the belief that you’ve found a purpose, brings about anxiety. First, we experience anxiety as we try to find it and are unable to. Secondarily, once we do believe we have a purpose, we experience the fear of losing it. Pressure builds when purpose is something you have to find because you are constantly terrified of making the wrong choice or wasting your life looking in the wrong place. Furthermore, once you do identify something you call “purpose,” you cling to the idea of that purpose and become significantly attached to it. I will continue with the doctor as an example here, because there are plenty of physicians who work well into retirement age simply because they fear losing their purpose or position of power.
The ego loves purpose. It loves the idea of a pre-written calling because it implies you are inherently special and that the universe has a specific job for you.
Clearly, I do not think this is true. I do not believe in destiny or a grand cosmic purpose. We happen into our roles based on societal factors, family upbringing, happenstance, chance, and a lot of luck. There are many folks out there who wanted to do something specific with their lives, but ended up taking a completely different path.
Think of all the athletes who got injured playing sports, rendering them unable to compete. Go through the thought process. The athlete believed their original purpose was to play the game, but now that they are injured, what is their purpose? Is it to play sports? That does not make sense because they cannot, so how could that be their purpose? Are they now living a life where they cannot fulfill their purpose, or do they simply have a new one?
Do you see why identifying a particular purpose creates anxiety? People constantly shift what they believe their purpose is in order to satisfy their ego. Once they are unable to gain alignment with their purpose, they either find a new one or fall into despair that they have no purpose at all.
They find this despair because they are conditioned to believe they are supposed to have a grand calling. I am here to tell you that there is no pre-written purpose, and we should embrace that reality. Once we do, we can no longer become anxious about not having one.
Grounding Ourselves in Daily Life
Since purpose is not something we “find,” it becomes something we “create.”
Plenty of people, myself included sometimes, put life on hold. Folks tend to suffer through their days waiting for their “true calling” to arrive before they allow themselves to start enjoying things. Some people do not think they will be able to enjoy life until they are retired, or until they have made a certain amount of money or attained a certain status.
I do think it is important to desire a better future, but we must understand that the future is just a concept. We can plan, map out, and assume where we will be in 10, 20, or 30 years, but those are all just assumptions made about a figment of our imaginations. There is no such thing as the future. There is only the here and now. So, my suggestion is to try and live a more balanced life.
Yes, you should save money now for retirement, and yes, you should take better care of your body now so that it feels better to use later in life. However, that does not mean you should sacrifice everything about the present on the hopes you can enjoy more later. Aim to enjoy some of it now, and save some of it for later.
It is exactly like having a freshly baked pie. You want to enjoy some of it now, so you have a slice, but you put the rest away to enjoy later in the week. Apply this same concept to your daily life.
There is peace in the mundane. You do not need to be destined for a specific career to find value in it. You can create value with how you engage with the work, how you treat your coworkers, or how it funds the hobbies you love. Even if you loathe your current role or job, you can focus on what you will do with your earnings to help get you through your current predicament.
All of life, including the most bombastic careers at the highest levels, eventually fades into the background of nothingness. Even celebrities and sports icons are forgotten. So too will my job and my career fade. No one is going to care that I was an insurance professional who had one of the highest settlement ratios in the company in fifty years. To be honest, I will probably be forgotten very soon after I leave the role or retire. That is completely fine with me (borderline preferable), because I do not believe in legacy and I do not care what other people think of me. My life is not about insurance or any purpose-driven ideology. It is about me, the love I share, and the enjoyment I can find in this world.
Let’s Reflect
What is one area of your life where you have been waiting to “find” a grand meaning? What would happen if you stopped searching and simply decided to create a small, enjoyable focus there instead?