I’ve been talking a lot this year with clients about the purpose of life, especially when you’ve lost that purpose.
I’ve had an enforced hiatus from my plans for world domination, and it made me wonder.
What is my purpose when I have no energy to do anything?
Am I merely waiting to get better so I can get back to my purpose?
I know that’s not the case for me, life’s teaching me while I’m convalescing and I am learning.
But there is a real sense among people that they have to do something to feel purposeful.
When you’re too ill to do, you start to feel useless, a burden upon the world, a waste of oxygen.
But that’s just not true, or fair, or even reasonable.
Sick friends are still my friends.
They are still worthy.
I still want them around.
Society has a lot to answer for – measuring someone’s worth by what they do.
Even worse, measuring it by what they look like or how many likes they get.
Ugh.
So let’s push back against this absurd world view, and consider the question:
What if the purpose is life?
What if your only purpose is to live your life?
What if you didn’t have to do a damn thing to be worthy?
What if you just lived?
Now I do not mean that half-life of mere existence embodied by the quote:
“Most men live lives of quiet desperation.” by Thoreau
No, no. Not that.
I mean a life where you feel as good as you can, but it doesn’t matter what you do and achieve.
You can still do and achieve if that feels good, but you don’t have to.
You can merely be.
Think of a Buddhist monk or a cloistered nun.
Are their simple lives unworthy?
Of course not.
Every life is worthy.
So take the pressure off yourself to achieve and accomplish and strive and have a list of exploits, and just live your life to the best you can in every moment.
How?
- Love life
Enjoy it as much as possible. Lighten up, have fun, don’t take it seriously. “Life is far too important to be taken seriously.” said Oscar Wilde. And he’s right. What can you do today to love life just a little more? - Trust life
Let life show you where to go instead of forcing it or trying to make it different. Follow the path in front of you and enjoy the journey. Practice acceptance and trust today. What’s life putting in front of you? Do that. - Feel good
Make feeling good more important than doing lots. This is so hard for many of us who feel we cannot stop, because if we do we’ll fall off the hamster wheel. But if it’s not feeling good to be busy, do what feels good instead. What would feel good today? - Be yourself fully
Be fully and unapologetically you. Don’t hold back your light, your genius, your uniqueness. Shine bright, baby! - Boost your self-esteem
Work on your self-worth – take excellent care of yourself, love yourself, boost your confidence. Shoulders back, head up, boobs proud. You go, girl!
From this place, you will feel inspired to do stuff, to accomplish things – some of them perhaps great. And that’s wonderful. But even if you don’t, your life is enough, you are enough.
And if this all feels difficult or terrifying, I get that – it’s one of the hardest things I’ve learned in my convalescence, and I’m still getting my head around it.
If you need help with it, with making how you feel and how you be more important than what you do, send me a message, let’s have a coaching session on it. Free, no sales pitch, no catch. I so badly want you to see your worth beyond what you do, it would be my joy to help!
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