Saturday Self-Study: Purpose

Purpose is a powerful word. It’s not just a goal, it’s bigger than a goal, it’s the reason you’re here.

I truly believe that everyone has a purpose. How can you not? Think about it, you are one in approximately eight billion people on this earth. You have a unique purpose.

Do you know your purpose? If not, that’s okay.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about purpose is that it just comes to us and if it doesn’t, then we think we don’t have one.

It doesn’t work that way and I found this out firsthand when I retired from the Navy.

During my time in the Navy, I never thought about my purpose much. My purpose was to support the mission that the Navy had wherever I went, period. That was my purpose.

When I retired, I had to start thinking about what I wanted to do after the Navy, start thinking about my purpose and it hit me hard, I had no idea what I wanted to do, what I was passionate about, or what my purpose was.

This was very tough for me to digest. I felt completely lost and hopeless for a period of time.

Here’s one thing I learned through this process, most of the time, your purpose doesn’t find you, you find it. That’s right, finding your purpose requires action.

Finding your purpose means getting out there and trying new things, trying things that make you scared, things that make you doubt yourself; it doesn’t happen sitting on the couch.

If you feel lost today or that you don’t have a purpose, take some time to sit down with yourself and think about what inspires you, what you enjoy in life, or what you want to try.

Is there something that scares you that you’ve been wanting to do, but haven’t had the courage to act on? That’s the thing you should start with and see what happens.

This happened to me once I got out and started working my new job. I still didn’t know if I wanted to keep doing what I was doing. However, I was on my healing journey and felt deep down that the next step was for me to share my story and coach others to help them heal. This scared the shit out of me, and it took me some time to decide that I was going to go for it.

This is how I found my purpose. It didn’t come to me overnight. It wasn’t easy, it scared the hell out of me, but I knew it was it when I started taking action.

You can do the same. I’ve provided some reflection questions for you below to help you out with getting started.

1) What do I value most in life and why?

2) When do I feel most like myself?

3) What activities make me lost track of time?

4) If I had unlimited time and money, what would I choose to spend my days doing?

5) What problems in the world do I feel personally called to help solve?

6) What pain or challenge have I overcome and how could that experience help others?

7) If I had only one year left to live, what would I do differently?

Take the time to reflect on these questions and see what you come up with.

You may find out what you should do next. Make sure you do it!

Stay positive and take action!

Thank you for your support!

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