I've been thinking a lot about the next topic to discuss. I know that I have yet to tackle dealing with anxiety at night. It's on the to-do list, but I want to take a break from the metaphors and poetic rendition of anxiety to talk directly with you. The topic that I settled on is twofold: the meaning and purpose of life.
This is not a one-size-fits-all solution to finding meaning and purpose in your own life. Rather, it's an example, and know that no two paths in life are the same.
Creating meaning in my life has been difficult because my life has meant different things at different times. When I was younger, making people smile and joking with my close friends gave my life meaning. When I was in college, attending classes and attaining my degrees gave my life meaning. Now? Now, writing and going to work every day give my life meaning (more so writing than going to work).
There are certainly moments when I start to think that life and what I do are meaningless. It gets discouraging, but then I pull myself out of the bog and pull myself back into the boat.
I write whatever I want: little snippets of things that one day, hopefully, will grow into full-fledged novels or short stories or short story collections. This gives my life meaning. On the days that I don't write, like the days I haven't posted here on "Dormant Dragons" or didn't write in my notebook, my life feels empty, void of meaning.
The solution is simple, isn't it? Write something every day! Post something on the blog every day!
But it's not so simple.
Anxiety creeps in at the border of all intentions, fraying the edges of motivation until it unravels into a pile of seemingly useless string. With anxiety comes exhaustion. Especially when you work during the day and don't get enough sleep. Motivation becomes difficult. It's almost as if you have to motivate your motivation.
On the days in which I don't write anything, I've decided to read fifty or so pages in a book. This is a pact I made with myself to make sure that I'm at least still exposing myself to the world that gives my life meaning.
Little goals.
Set.
Little.
Goals.
For me, it's write or read something every day, but it needn't be these. It can be as simple as setting a goal to make your bed each day, to clean your room each day, to go on a walk each day. Something. It has to be something, and it has to be immediately attainable. Don't set yourself a goal to, for instance, build a hovercraft in an afternoon. If this is one of your long-term goals, then break it down into a smaller goal such as installing a battery or attaching all the screws. I don't know how to make a hovercraft, but you get the point.
Completing these goals each day will give your life meaning and purpose because you've achieved something. You've done something. You've proven to yourself that you have made some sort of progress.
This is how I create meaning and purpose in my life. And I failed to write the past few days, but I did manage to finish reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, so I achieved one of my goals. I avoided the mental trap of thinking life is meaningless by completing just one of my goals.
Each of us possesses the power to create the meaning and purpose in our life. We can choose to glean meaning from walking a dog, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or selling popcorn at a movie theater. Whatever we decide is meaningful.
This is incredible!
It's also about perception.
Shift your view of the negative things that happen in life. If you feel that your life is purposeless or meaningless, change the way you view your own life and what you're doing to be happy.
Happiness is key.
Happiness is all that matters.
If you're not happy, then alter the way you view yourself and your life.
I know this is a short post, and it's hard to cram all the philosophical and religious and personal implications about meaning and purpose in a small blog post, but I think I covered the basics.
Finding meaning and purpose in your life doesn't have to be complex. It is often simple. We just overthink it.
I'd like to get a conversation going about anxiety, depression, meaning, purpose, and how all of these are affected by creativity. Leave a comment or send me an email and let me know how you create meaning and purpose in your own life. If creativity helps you, let me know! If something else helps you, I'd like to know that as well.
