Creating a Purpose Driven Life

Creating a purpose drive life is something that is not easily done. Most people in Western society lack purpose and find themselves working in jobs doing things for forty, fifty, sixty, even seventy or eighty hours per week doing things that they dislike doing! It is a fact that Americans spend more hours at work during the course of their lifetimes than they do in any other aspect of their lives! So, why do people choose to spend the majority of the time in their lives doing something that they cannot wait to stop doing?

The answers can vary from the anxiety of making a career change and anticipating all the possible headaches that could cause (financial, logistical, and other unwanted lifestyle changes) to focusing on the wrong thing (money instead of personal happiness) to apathy (a feeling of lacking the energy and motivation to make changes). There always exist a great number of reasons to do something or to not do something. However, since Americans spend more time at work than they do any other sphere of life, would it not be worth it to spend that time doing something enjoyable?

Those suffering from an anxiety disorder, and especially social anxiety disorder, often find themselves suffering from a lack of purpose. It is typically very difficult for those with social anxiety disorder to hold down even mundane jobs such as working in a fast food restaurant or as a secretary because of the numbers of people and amount of interaction that these jobs require (see ASN’s Work Anxiety for more on this). The incredibly powerful aspect of having a purpose driven life, however, is that once you are able to find your purpose in life, you rarely feel like you are working and a large majority of your anxiety will subside!

So, the first question that you may begin asking is, “How do you know people have a purpose in life anyway? Most people go to college and get a job; that’s just the way it works!” Going to college and finding a job is in fact what most people do, and I have learned by experience that most people are not thinking consciously. Most people just go through the motions and do what they are told to do, namely going to college and getting a degree in order to earn the right to sit behind a desk and have other people treat them like garbage and tell them what they should be doing all day long. What has really told me that I have a purpose in life is experience, and I am not the only one who has had such experiences. First, recall that I used to work in the computer industry upon first graduating from college (see ASN’s Overcoming Anxiety for more on this). My experience in this industry was incredibly negative; I can recall not being able to sleep well at least two days before I had to return to work. The social anxiety at one job was so bad that I literally felt frozen most of the time; any action that I would take would be the wrong one, or I had to second guess it a couple hundred times before taking it. Working in the computer industry was undoubtedly one of the worst years of my life. However, there are people who work in computers and who really enjoy it, which is fine for them. It seems that they have found their purpose in life! However, what worked for them did not work for me, and I chose to leave that industry and return to college, with the intent of becoming a social worker.

I began working a job as a line therapist for autistic children, working in-home. The first few months were tough because I had just moved on from the computer industry, and I figured that most jobs were terrible, so I was assuming that one would be horrible too. However, I found that job to be wonderful and very fulfilling. I was actually looking forward to going to work most days, and rarely did that job turn into just “work.” And, I was good at the job; I received constant praise and feedback that I really did well. When I first heard this, I was thinking to myself, “What?” because I was just coming to work, being myself, and doing what I was supposed to be doing. But, it turns out that I am in fact quite skilled at this job, and even though I am paid less than I would be in the computer industry, it has been very fulfilling and also very easy on my anxiety. I have worked that job for almost five years now and still find it fulfilling. It was from this and other experiences in the social welfare field that I learned that helping people is my purpose in life. However, the social welfare field has not been perfect either. I did work another job that was very bureaucratic, filled with all the asinine rules and moronic craziness that could be expected from a bureaucracy. At first it seemed like a real good fit; the interview went well, the first part of the training went well, and I seemed to have much in common with my co-workers. However, I had an inner sense of dread when starting the second phase of training, and when I actually began working the job, things went from bad to worse. I realized that following rules and procedure, and reciting policy like a robot, even though it was in the social welfare field, was simply not my purpose in life. This for me was a no-brainer, and I quit and went back to working with autistic children.

At this point I felt quite defeated. It seemed that helping people was what I was designed to do, and now I try a job that is very common in the social welfare field, and it just did not work out at all. I figured that I must be a failure, and was even thinking that I might be doomed to working low-level jobs for the rest of my life. It seemed as though the end of the road had appeared and that life was just not going to be as happy and fulfilling as my naïve youth had once believed.

However, something changed all that. I had been thinking of becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business of some kind, however, I really had no idea of what that business might be. And, without any experience, what kind of business could I actually create? Perhaps no business idea would come to me and instead I would be stock working jobs that were fun, but not quite fulfilling. Then, one event really changed it all for me, and I learned at that moment then and there that becoming an entrepreneur was without a doubt the my purpose in life.

What changed it all? I attended a speech by Robert Egger, who created the D.C. Central Kitchen. Briefly, he took the leftover food from other restaurants in the Washington D.C. area, reprocessed it, and served it in a soup kitchen for the homeless. What was unique about his idea was that he employed people who were released felons, homeless, or some other type of drifter or wanderer. These people then earned a certification in food service so that they could at least engage in that type of work. His speech, honestly, was not all that inspiring. In fact, I can barely even recall what it was about. However, what really made me excited was the fact that here is this guy who is out there and running his own nonprofit organization, calling the shots, helping people, and making a living at it all at the same time. And not only is he making a living, but he is nationally renowned for it! My eyes were literally filled with tears because I felt so filled with passion and excitement thinking that someday that could be me – helping people and making a good living at it at the same time! Never before had I been so filled with emotion and passion, and after a few weeks worth of thinking, I realized that becoming an entrepreneur was my purpose in life.

That is how it happened for me, and it happens differently for everyone. I am currently attempting to become an entrepreneur, and even though I am not making good money at it yet, I feel as though I never work a day in my life. Every day I look forward to working and doing what it is that I have been designed to do. And, one of the best benefits of all is that the effects of social anxiety disorder in my life are barely even noticeable! While I have not yet created a profitable venture, I have the faith that if what I am attempting right now does not work out, then I will find something else that will. Whenever I have attempted to accomplish a goal that is selfless and beneficial to the rest of the world, the goal has been accomplished; the goal may not be accomplished in the way that I thought or it may not look the way I had envisioned it, but in the end things have always been very satisfying.

The bottom line is that creating a purpose driven life is an incredibly powerful way of finding happiness, fulfillment, and reduced anxiety. Will your new purpose driven life be free from anxiety and stress and always filled with bliss? Be realistic – of course that will not happen. However, the amount of happiness and fulfillment that you will experience will far overshadow the level of happiness and fulfillment you experience when you are not doing what you are designed to do. While it may be scary in the near future, in the long term finding your purpose in life and fulfilling it will be far beneficial to the life you would have if you chose not to live in alignment with your life purpose. The bottom line is to start doing whatever it is that you can do at the given moment in order to create that purpose driven lifestyle you have always dreamed of. Stop reading this article and analyzing and instead start getting out there and begin creating your dream lifestyle!

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