“How do I know my purpose in life?” Standing at the shoulder as our habit was and watching the cool cars that passed by. I asked Dappa in the course of our discussion but he didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear. I needed steps from seven to ten, I didn’t care how long they were or how hard they will be to follow; I just wanted to end that mysterious feeling of emptiness and wastefulness.
I read a few books but they didn’t give me the laid down steps I wanted too. For four years now, it plagued me. I had talents not a talent. I had interests and not a single interest, what was I called to do then? That was really what I wanted to figure out. I talked to Faith, another close confidant. I told her about my interest in writing, acting, civil engineering, modelling and even politics. There were so many things I wanted to do. My sister thought I was confused and she was right. Faith concluded I wanted power, she had asked about my fantasies which were authoring a best-selling book or winning an Oscar or Grammy, cliché dreams right.
Faith was right about something, she said with time, I would narrow it down to one or two or just a few although she did say I could indeed do it all in my life time. I have read about this subject and have thought deeply about it. I have indeed narrowed it down and the process made me understand what true purpose looks like. You don’t have time to go through the try and error method; yes, you know those people that just seem to be fame seekers because they attend every audition here and there from modelling to singing and what not. Do not judge them yet. They may be confused as I was or are indeed seeking fame and power; we are allowed to want what we want right?
If you are on a wrong path, challenges will make you give up, which would be prove that you have wasted a good part of your life chasing a dream that isn’t yours. You will continue to feel empty, unhappy and wasted until you discover your true purpose and focus all the energy you have on that.
Consider the six points below while visualising your numerous dreams, goals and ambitions. The chaff will burn off and the wheat would remain, whatever does remain is the true purpose of your life, something you will never fail at or stop doing till you leave this world. You could build a career out of it and even be immortalised by it. You just have to be honest with yourself.
SIX POINTS TO CONSIDER
- An Attraction or an Interest?
I climbed a table and a stool just to get to the building plans at the top of my dad’s wardrobe, I was only 13 then. After going through it, I memorised it and reproduced it for my technical assignment. I was scolded by dad for tampering with the plans but he was delighted when he saw my own drawings and knew it was his dream house. I did that with Uncle B too, hanging around the dinning anytime he discussed with his architect, I was about eleven or so. Kids like to draw and paint, I drew buildings as a kid,
it’s no surprise I opted for architecture as a career path and when that didn’t work out; I decided to try civil engineering, the next best thing. It is the same attraction I had to fitness centres. I would walk in even when I never planned to do so and it didn’t take long before I began to hit the gym myself. The ambiguous words like passion and love can be reduced to mere interest and attraction. So are interested? Are you attracted to what you are doing? Or are you rather attracted to the paycheques or fame it seems to bring? Why do you do what you do?
2. Do You Feel Emotional Thrills?
What is that thing you do that helps you deal with your emotional pains and demons, that productive activity that seems very easy for you to do whereas so difficult for others. What is that thing you do that makes you feel good about yourself, you feel important doing it. It gives you worth and makes you want to live more. What is that thing you would run to do when you want to be alone or feel some solace? No one can come between you and this activity, those who tried; failed, you never seem to stop doing it. Yes you can say you love it like you love someone and you can even choose it over someone you love…Yes that thing, that is purpose. If what you do causes pain rather than easing it, if it brings sadness or boredom, then it isn’t the purpose of your life. You should love what you do and have fun doing it.
3. (a) You Are Already Doing It
I remember standing behind the TV stand imitating the preachers at church, I can’t remember how old I was then, six or seven, this memory is really vague. I already had it in me to gather the kids in the neighbourhood and we would play “Church”. It didn’t mean I would grow up to be a preacher, no not when I became the chapel prefect of my high school either. What it meant was that I was a crowd pleaser and had to be in front of the crowd to feel good about myself. It’s why I am building my motivational brand to become a motivational speaker someday. You already do what you are called to do but you are only taking it for granted. You don’t believe you can build a career out of it. Sometimes, it’s the things we do for fun. Sometimes, it is what we call a hobby that we are destined to succeed at.
(b)You Can Do It Today, Tomorrow, Any day and anytime
If you are going to be a singer, then you should already be singing for your siblings at home, at the local clubs or church. You should be excited about singing for an audience of ten like they were a thousand. If you are going to be a comedian, then everyone who talks to you should only be listening and gasping for breath every now and then because, it’s simply who you are, someone who makes people laugh. If you have a dream, something you believe is your purpose; you must first be doing it in these simple settings. A Grammy winning artist was a mere singer, Michel Angelo was a mere painter, Serena Williams merely played tennis, and a nurse is a mere care giver. If you are doing it merely for the fun but with love and passion because you are attracted to it, then you can say it is your true purpose.
4. No Money, No Fame, Purpose Lives
Your purpose is a blessing and a gift to the world, whether it brings money to the table or not, whether you are recognised or not, for the sake of love and your attraction to it, you just do it. The only reason why man must make money is because money is required for his survival, there comes a time when a man needs to differentiate what he does for money from what he does for the love of doing. If you do it for love and it also pays the bills, then you have figured life out, most of life at least. The truth is, if you truly love it and do it for just that, it will someday pay the bills.
5. It will help the world
Why would someone want to be a stripper or an exotic dancer as they would like to call it? There are those who do it for the money but then there are those who believe they are called to it. So how can stripping help the world? “When I see these women come in, they look sad and unhappy as though they have been rejected by other men, I like the smiles it puts on their faces, and this is why I do it”. Those where the words of an exotic dancer, while we religious people seat back and judge them, if he was being honest at all, then he believes it’s his purpose in life. If you are going to do something for the rest of your life, you have to see how it helps the world. It is this thing you do for the betterment of humanity that fills that void of emptiness and gives you a true sense of importance or purpose.
Finally, brethren, if you were first attracted to it and then fell in love with it. If you love it so much that you do it every day, then you have found purpose.
If it doesn’t pay the bills at first, yet you do it, if to you it is a way to touch lives and make the world a better place, then you would live through life doing just that.
If it is what you do when you are sad, unhappy and angry, if it helps you deal with your pain, if it somehow brings you closer to the creator than any sermon would. There lies your creative genius. That is what you should do every day.
I hope this helps.
Agava Barituka George
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