“I just haven’t accomplished anything worthwhile!” cried a 20-something client to me after a session. She wanted answers to a long list of questions about her life purpose, before she’d even lived enough of it to make discoveries on her own.
Because life isn’t something we master at the front end: we grow into it.
When I was growing up I remember distinctly that feeling of not knowing the rules.
Did I belong?
I approached the world with furrowed brow. What IS this place? Who ARE these people? And why are they acting like that? Connecting with people didn’t feel the same for me is it looked for those around me.
It was all foreign territory. I was a stranger in a strange world.
But I didn’t really worry about it. I just lived my life.
My career path was traditional corporate and I was pretty good at it. It paid the bills.But it didn’t feed my soul. It wasn’t my purpose.
Is it floundering or is it growing?
It might have looked to some like I was floundering in parts of my personal life, but I wasn’t. I was simply living out my path. Nothing that happens to us is wasted. It’s all used on the journey through life. All experiences good and bad help us grow.
So here I am at 67. I AM living my purpose, or so it seems to me. I don’t feel like it’s something I needed to do when I was 25–I wouldn’t have known how. I had to live the lessons to learn them.
I had to grow into my life.
And so do we all.
So, don’t despair if you think you haven’t found your purpose or aren’t able to live it yet. Life is unfolding just as it’s meant to. Everything is being used. You are growing.
Oh, and to my younger readers? I love your enthusiasm for having a life with meaning. Don’t work too hard for it, because you’re already living it. And growing into to it.
Quiet the mind and you’ll see it.
With love.
Such a smart and meaningful post, Carol. I never had those feelings when I went out into the world, probably because mother and I role reversed when I was 12. I was used to doing grownup jobs and beings in control, plus I always had summer jobs, working at the Air Force base. Jobs of any kind, preferably ones with responsibility, are so important for kids today. xoxo, Brenda
I don’t think we’re ever done growing, even when we’re older. My 80-something year old mother has had remarkable growth in the past years. I find it exciting.
Laurie Stone recently posted…An Untamed, Unfettered Female
I just love this post. We are all right where we are supposed to be!
I think people often forget that life is for living. Being in the moment is important too.
If you’re not learning and growing, you’re regressing. And the best way we grow and strengthen is through adversity. A bar of steel is forged into a blade through intense heat and repeated bashing with a hammer.
I am still looking for my purpose but I am not going to give up the search.
I legitimately needed to read this today. Thank you, Carol.
Lorna recently posted…My Wedding Dress, My Wheelchair, & Me
So well put. The younger one is, the more it seems all about the destination rather than the journey. And the older I get, the more I realize that the JOURNEY is the real point, and I should savor each moment as it passes (even those I can’t wait to get beyond) for what they will add to the future me.