The 3 most common misconceptions around life purpose: here’s why you can’t find it
A lot of people go through life without ever asking themselves what its meaning is and why they’re alive, basically living on autopilot: go to school, wait for weekends and holidays, get a job, wait for weekends and holidays, start a family, wait for weekends and holidays, retire and still wait for holidays and weekends, because those are the only opportunities to see their children and grandchildren.
Hopefully, this isn’t you, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, reading an article about life purpose, right?!
Related article:
“What’s your life purpose? How to discover it and build your life around it”
Searching for answers
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been asking yourself those big question since you were young, then life got in the way and you stopped looking for the answers.
Then, on an ordinary day, you find yourself feeling restless, wondering whether having a decent job, a family and some good friends is really all there is.
Maybe this happened to you while on a holiday, especially if you were travelling abroad and experiencing new different worlds of possibilities.
Read also: “Your choices determine your life”
Perhaps you lost your job, despite all the hard work and sacrifices you made; or you suddenly got sick, despite your healthy lifestyle; whatever the circumstances, you found yourself searching for answers, for more meaning, for a reason to get up in the morning that’s got nothing to do with your alarm going off.
Why are you here?
If you’ve been trying to discover what your life purpose is and how you can actually align your life to it, you know how hard it is to embark on such a journey, mainly because it’s not a quick one.
In fact, it may take you years to figure out what you came here to do on Planet Earth and how to do it.
You may at one (or more than one) point get lost along the way and even decide to give up and just settle for the life most people accept without questioning…
Don’t close that door!
…work, raise your kids, save for the future or for some fun & comfort, work some more, retire, regret what you didn’t do.
No, please, don’t! Don’t give up just yet!
Don’t push close the door you once dared to open just because it’s hard!
Finding your own special “why” is the most rewarding feeling you’ll ever know!
So, if you feel like maybe there’s no such thing as a life purpose, that it’s just a luxury you can’t afford or some spiritual crisis you’re going through right now, hang in there, keep reading.
I’m going to reveal you the 3 most common misconceptions around life purpose that may be keeping you stuck while on your personal quest.
Let’s get started!
1 – Your life purpose must be cool
Let me be very clear: your life purpose doesn’t have to be cool!
We’re not all here to find a cure for cancer (even though it would be great), or to win a Nobel Prize.
Some of us may accomplish extraordinary things while alive and get recognized or even become famous for that, but not everyone will and that’s OK.
Your life purpose can be something as simple as being active in your local community and do some good there, so don’t worry about it not being fancy enough.
That’s not the point of uncovering your purpose. If you need your purpose to be exceptional in order to pursue it, then I’m afraid you’re going after it for the wrong reason.
We all have our unique mission and no matter how small or simple our contribution to the world may seem, we’re all accomplishing something special when we embrace our purpose.
Remember, your main purpose is to figure out who you are and have the courage to be that person.
As a result of that, you will be able to use your own skills, gifts, talents and struggles to uplift yourself and others, to solve problems.
2 – Your life purpose must be your career
Here’s another reason while you’re not making any progress on your purpose journey.
I must say this is probably the most common misconception around life purpose and probably the most insidious because it may keep you stuck in the loop of job hopping.
The truth is this isn’t an equation: my life purpose is the perfect job/career path for me.
If you think your life purpose is simply what you do for a living, you are limiting yourself.
How you pay your bills is one thing, but it’s not necessarily the reason why you’re alive.
You can be happy in your current job and still feel like you have a different purpose; just as you could be changing jobs because you’re dissatisfied and still not being able to find the one that gives you a sense of purpose.
Related article: “From passion to business: how to take the leap in 5 steps”
Like I said, this isn’t an equation. That’s why you need to stop expecting things to work that way.
Let me give you an example: you may be a lawyer or a teacher (liking or not your job) and discover that your life purpose is to be an animal advocate and to foster dogs. This doesn’t mean you now have to quit your job to follow your purpose, not unless that’s what you really want. You can do both!
Our life purpose is also the result of what we have gone through in our past lives (if you don’t believe in reincarnation you can think of what you went through in this one life), therefore it may have little to do with professions and a lot to do with personal lessons.
As we incarnate again and again, we are challenged to grow, to improve ourselves, to face the challenges we’re given, to put our gifts and abilities to good use, rather than wasting them. All this to become wiser life after life, after life (or year after year).
3 – Embracing your life purpose means change your life completely
Says who? And why would that be?
I don’t know why we tend to be so extreme, but I know it rarely helps.
Assuming that once you figure out what your life purpose is you need to radically change your life is probably the reason why you still haven’t figured it out.
The idea of having to leave everything behind in order to pursue your life calling is scary, so remaining in search mode feels a lot more comforting.
You don’t have to quit a job that works just fine for you, end a relationship, move to another country or go live in ashram to pursue your purpose, unless that’s exactly what you want to do!
As I said, your life purpose may be closer to you than you think, it may be already part of your life, hidden in your passions or in the causes you support.
Chances are you don’t really need to make any big changes to fully embrace your path, you simply have to recognize it, make a commitment and dare to start walking on it.
Once you take the first steps into your newly found direction, you’ll notice that the Universe (or God, or whatever you call it) will conspire to bring you everything you need for your journey: the right experiences, the people you need to meet, the tools you must learn to use and the opportunities to do so.
When you manage to align your life with your purpose miracles literally happen, along with coincidences and constant “signs” from your guides (or angels, or ancestors) to reassure you that you’re on the right track.
Life really becomes magic, yet simple at the same time.
So please, don’t make it more complicated than it has to be, let yourself be guided by your own intuition and forget about career, status and achievements.
Let go of the need to be someone “special”, you are anyway. Your life purpose must feel “cool” to you, not because of society standards, but because it makes you feel alive, it makes you use your full potential, and it brings you joy.
That’s it. This is all you need to know.
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