Over the years I’ve had quite a few people complain to me that they have no sense of Purpose
The same people will often say things like “it’s alright for you Jon, you found Yours”
I don’t have any problem with people saying these things to me because I remember when I had no sense of purpose beyond ‘survive the next day’ or the next hour, or the next week!
And beyond that I constantly questioned whether there was any meaning to life beyond trying to limit my own suffering (or permanently ending it)
Obviously now my life is chock-full of Purpose and Meaning, but that did not happen overnight
So how do you “Find” your purpose?
It’s my belief that you don’t find your purpose; you choose it.
(In making that choice there comes a point where you must by necessity sacrifice all other possible choices, otherwise you cannot fully live up to your chosen purpose. But that is a whole other blog post)
At first I had no clue that I was even doing it, but my purpose started to grow, under the radar, when I asked myself:
“what do I want?“
It grew from the answer:
“Not This!”
At the time I asked for, and received, that answer, I was sick to the back teeth of my job and my lifestyle, and when it got to the point that I could no longer stomach it, I literally jumped into the next best available thing to me; becoming a personal trainer
This was by no means an easy road
I spent thousands of pounds in getting qualified, and spent about 18 months doing a full-time office job whilst working at the gym before and after work and at lunch times
Plus Saturdays!
That’s a year and a half of 14-hour days and 6-day weeks!
But from that initial choice to stop living a life I didn’t want, plus a chunk of hard work and facing fears, grew the person I am today
And it was in becoming that person I also chose my purpose in life
I’m 10 years past that choice so far, the journey is far from over, and I am further than ever from completing my life’s work…