Religion. Spirituality. Philosophy. Buddhism. Meditation retreats. World travel. Fortune-tellers. Career changes. Mid-life crises. Quarter-life crises.
What do all of these things have in common?
They are things that people do, have or turn to when they are facing a crisis of purpose.
Self-actualization. Finding yourself. A quest for spiritual enlightenment.
Call it what you want. It’s all the same thing: a search for meaning. People are looking for purpose. Why do I exist? Why was I put on this planet? What am I meant to do?
‘The Purpose Driven Life’ has sold 60 million copies, making it one of the best-selling non-fiction books of all time.
Guess what? It’s all smoke and mirrors.
What people really want to know is: How can I be happy?
Our modern culture has come to associate happiness with purpose. If you are living without a purpose, then you have no reason to exist. You don’t matter. And people who don’t matter are unhappy.
Well, I have news for you. There are hundreds of millions of happy people on this planet who get up every morning without wondering why they are here. They live simple lives. They have jobs to go to, chores to take care of, families to feed and care for, friends and neighbors to chat with.
And it’s enough. They exist. They live, they die. They are happy.
Why? Because they don’t have a reason not to be.
The problem is, the rest of us have more than we need. More time, more money, more energy. And we need something to do with all this excess time, money, and energy. Something that makes us feel good. Something that makes us happy.
So we start searching for a purpose.
Maybe having a purpose will make you happy, maybe it won’t. But what happens when you fail at your purpose? You decide you were wrong and start searching again. You find another purpose and fail at that too.
You fail because you are relying on the universe to make things happen. If you are meant to do something, then it has to work out, right? You don’t need to put in the effort, you don’t need to make it happen. The universe will take care of that.
Stop.
Stop waiting.
Stop making excuses.
Stop relying on the universe.
Stop looking for your purpose.
You don’t need one. Take responsibility. Forget about what you’re meant to do. Figure out what you want to do and do it.
Take control of your life. You don’t have a destiny. Choose a goal and pour your heart into it. Learn everything you can about it and put in the hard work and determination to make it happen.
Don’t give up and blame your failure on the universe. Forget about purpose.
Take action.
Not because you were meant to.
Act because you want to. Act because it makes you happy. Act because it makes others happy. Act because it’s the right thing to do.
Get religion if you think it’ll improve your life. Study philosophy. Become a Buddhist. Go to a meditation retreat. Travel the world. Visit a fortune teller. Change your career.
But don’t do it to find a purpose. Do it because you want to.
Be who you want to be. Live and be happy.