Most of us are just too busy. It’s a big problem in the modern world.
One thing that goes with being too busy is losing our sense of purpose. We just do the next thing we have to do without giving any thought to whether what we are doing is still part of our bigger picture.
This post explores this problem and looks at how we can find our way out of it.
English doctor, Rangan Chatterjee, begins his book, The Stress Solution, with these words:
“The single best way of living a calmer, happier life is to do it with a strong sense of purpose”.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee
He finds that when his patients hit a plateau in their health recovery, it often comes down to whether they have a sense of control in their lives or if life is just ‘happening’ to them.
What makes you who you are – who you really are? Are we just trying to be what our bosses, spouses, parents, authority figures want us to be – or are we living our lives authentically? These questions are vital to managing stress and living with good mental health. Developing a clear sense of who we are is an important part of our life journey.
My story of finding my purpose
I have always enjoyed being a busy person, but I have not always had a clear sense of purpose, other than the purpose of doing what was in front of me for the day as best as I could. That has now changed. And that is what I want to talk about.
About 15 years ago, my mother was experiencing her second bout with breast cancer. She was a woman who helped and was helping a lot of people in really meaningful ways and she didn’t want to die. We prayed, we did the treatments, we prayed more – and we asked if there was anything more we could do to get her body in a position to heal.
No one had any idea. The Internet had so much on it – but we had no way of evaluating if all the hype about cancer therapies were just scams designed to part us with our money, or whether there was validity to any of it. We tried some things, but from what I know now, we did too little of the right things and totally omitted the most important things. As to what the science actually said, we had no clue – even though it said a lot.
No one was available to guide us through the maze. (I wish we had known <these things> about breast cancer back then).
Time to Reevaluate
A few years after mum’s death I was having coffee with one of my adult daughters. She asked, “Mum, if you had your time over, what would you do?” Without hesitation, I said I would help people get well with food. She said, “It’s not too late. Why don’t you retrain.” Two months later I began my first nutrition degree.
Now I am so much closer to helping people as I had dreamed. I have already helped many people through what looked like mazes to them – into a life of health and the happiness that comes from living in a body that works well. And I am looking forward to helping a whole lot more. With every cell in my body, I know I am doing what I am meant to be doing.
Becoming the Change
On my wall, I have three old pictures, framed. They are of my grandmother in a wheelchair in her 40s with rheumatoid arthritis. And two of my mother on her knee – a little girl who lost her mother at 12 from the brutal drug treatments used in the day against this disease. Food can cure rheumatoid arthritis – it has done so for hundreds and hundreds of people. But most think drugs are the only way. (You can read more about this <here>.)
I look at the grandmother I never knew – and passion rises in me to be the change.
I’ve come to realise that age and life experiences provide you with something to give that youth does not yet have. The more pain and struggles we have experienced – IF we learn from them – the more we actually have to give.
Time to think is vital to learning your purpose
Life is a journey in which we are discovering these things. What is needed to move along on this voyage – to learn wisdom from our own experiences – is TIME – time to think – time to be calm and think about meaning, time to not be rushing back and forth. No one can come into a sense of purpose while rushing from pillar to post every day.
Many people experience life-altering circumstances, but then fail to allow themselves time to sit back and evaluate those experiences. They receive the wounds of life but do not grow from them to become better people. They miss the chance to collide with their real purpose and destiny which those difficulties had the potential to produce
In times of challenge and difficulty, time to think is the gift we need to give ourselves in order to move forward and upward.
I do my best thinking –
- out walking (without my phone),
- working out at the gym (without music) and
- while driving without any music or podcasts on.
In these times I am able to evaluate my life. I can see more clearly what is required for the next step. I can discern whether I should alter my direction in order to re-establish a sense of purpose in my life. Without time to think, I fall back into the rat-race before long. If you are feeling tired or weary with life, find ways to give yourself this gift of time to think.
Time to think is one way to combat stress.
Becoming Ourselves
For many of us, it takes decades to discover who we really are and what we are so admirably prepared for. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. What matters is that we keep making time in our lives for evaluation and rest. In time we will come into that sense of purpose in which we can authentically and fully be ourselves while carrying it out.
0 Comments