Dear Tamara:
Is seems like everyone is talking about finding their purpose and living their purpose. I am not sure what I am good at and what I’m supposed to do in this world. I need help finding my purpose. Please help!
F.Caldwell
Dear F. Caldwell:
I agree that there is a lot of buzz and talk about purpose and people finding their true calling in life. While I believe that everyone has a purpose, I think that we put too much emphasis on “finding” our purpose. When we talk about finding our purpose, it gives the impression that it is somehow lost or eluding us. Our purpose is not running or hiding from us. I believe that we all know our purpose, we just have trouble recognizing our purpose and the best way to live out that purpose. When I work with my clients, one of the first things that we do is identify their talents, gifts, and passions. We also identify the things that make them angry and keep them up at night. All of these areas are usually tied to their purpose. Take a moment now to think back to when you were a child, what did you want to be? What types of activities were you drawn to? What were you naturally good at? What makes you happy and brings you joy whenever you do it? Often, these experiences early in life give us clues about our passions and our purpose. As children, we may not have been able to articulate what that purpose is, or know how to fully live out that purpose in terms of a career and life choices, but the clues, characteristics, and answers are there.
Even though we all have a purpose, we have autonomy to decide how to best live out that purpose in our lives. For instance, you may have a passion for food. You can choose to live out that passion in many ways. One, you may decide to become the obvious, a chef. But there are a plethora of ways for someone with a passion for food to live out that passion. You could become a teacher that teaches others how to prepare food. You could become a food critic and write about food. You could develop a cookbook with your own signature recipes. Regardless of how you choose to live out this passion, you are still in your purpose of impacting and changing the world through your love for food. As a child, you might have had the gift of gab. You never stopped talking, and you loved speaking in front of the class, This gift of gab could translate into a career in communications, public speaking, or your own talk show. Again, you choose the modality of how you use your gifts and talents to impact the world. These are a few simple examples, but clearly, illustrates how you can identify your purpose based on your natural gifts and talents and decide how to manifest that purpose in this world.
Everyone has a unique purpose and a unique calling. The world needs all of us to operate in our purpose. Don’t try to emulate someone else’s purpose because you feel it is more profound or deep, just be yourself and share your talents and gifts with the world. I hope this helps you and gives you a place to start to help identify what’s been in you all along.
