What is my Purpose?

What is my Purpose?   

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche explains the importance I feel my purpose has in my life. Answering the question “What is my purpose?” can also answer a lot of other questions. My purpose tells me what I’m working toward, why I’m here, and, most of all, gives me the motivation to move forward.

Without knowing my purpose I’d be extremely lost. I wouldn’t know what to go to go to school for, what career to choose, where to go next, or who I am. Fortunately, through all of my life experiences and a lot of hard decisions I’ve discovered what my purposes are. These are what drive me to do what I do each day and strive to reach my ultimate purpose, which also happens to be my ultimate passion.

I feel that the first purpose I have is a purpose that all of us in this world share: to simply be ourselves. Our lives and experiences have shaped us to be the unique individuals that we are for a reason, a purpose. Our purpose. If I lived every day trying to be someone I wasn’t meant to be I’d never fulfill my purpose and, in turn, probably never be happy. My duty is to wake up proud of who I am and what I have accomplished so far, so that in the future I can continue to fulfill my dreams and become a better version of myself.

The second purpose I believe I’ve been given to is to learn. Learning is something we all obviously have to do, but for me it has always been more than that. I’ve been given many opportunities to learn throughout my lifetime, maybe more than others. Some things can be taught, while other things must be experienced. I have done a lot of experiencing, and because of this, a lot of learning. For this I’m extremely grateful. Even now, I strive to learn more each and every day. I may not know how, but somehow, this fits into my purpose.

Now, what is my ultimate purpose? What, above all else, am I meant to achieve in my lifetime? Why am I on this earth at all? Warning: this is probably going to sound extremely cliche. My overall purpose, and ultimate passion, is to help people. I don’t know exactly when I realized this, or why, but it is most definitely true. Somewhere along my journey in life I developed a deep empathy for people and ever since I have known my ultimate purpose.

The point of having a purpose is to fulfill it, presumably for the common good. So, how do I plan to fulfill mine? This is an idea I pondered throughout my high school career. It wasn’t until recently that I finally had that “aha” moment. I’ve decided to pursue a career in mental health counseling. Having a mental health degree enables me to do many things, like drug and alcohol counseling, social work, and many types of volunteer work to help others get their lives back on track. I plan to double major in psychology and sociology, which correlates with one of my other purposes: to learn.

    These are some of the purposes I’ve been given in life. In the future I will have more, and I will do my best to fulfill those to the best of my ability as well. It’s comforting to know that no matter what, I will always have a purpose. I will always have something to work toward and something that makes me feel useful. Because I have a why to live, I will bear any how.