What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? What is my life’s purpose? I’ll admit, these are questions that have haunted me my entire life. Some people can go through life without thinking of these big questions and are blissfully happy. They are able to go to work, live each day without major worry, and basically enjoy life without having to think too deeply. Bless you, if you are one of those people. Unfortunately, for me, this is not the case. In fact, ever since I was a child, these questions have kept me up at night. It has affected my relationships with my friends and family. It has cost me great business opportunities and affected my career decisions. Pondering my life’s purpose has even influenced my timeline for getting married and having children. Thank goodness most of these things have worked out.

I was once having a conversation with a personal training client, and it took a serious turn. At some point, he asked me if I had lost someone close to me at a young age. I told him that my father had passed away from cancer when I was ten years old. He then said that circumstances like that make our mortality a very real thing. Upon reflection, I realized I had been continuously thinking about a time limit on my existence and that it was a very tough way to go through life. This is why most people, those of us that are able, choose not to think about it.

When researching literature for this article, I came across an almost unlimited number of articles related to finding one’s life purpose. This makes me think that maybe I am not unique in this quest to find deeper meaning.

There was an article written by Mark Manson titled “7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose.” While I don’t agree entirely with Mr. Manson, one idea in particular resonated with me. He remarked that many people, like myself, ask a question that is so large and impossible to comprehend, let alone answer, that we should change the question. He states that when people ask, “What should I do with my life?” or “What is my life purpose?” what they should be asking is, “What can I do with my time that is important?”

Looking at your purpose from this perspective is much more manageable and less likely to drive you mad. As he says, “There’s no reason for you to be contemplating the cosmic significance of your life while sitting on your couch all day eating Doritos.” Instead, you should be taking action to discover what you are passionate about and what is important to you.

In her article for Huffpost.com, titled “3 Unexpected Ways to Find Your Life Purpose,” Shannon Kaiser said that one of the things you will need to find your purpose is to break up with the “one”. By this, she means the idea that there is a single purpose to give our lives meaning. There are often multiple things about which we are, or can become, passionate. For example, the majority of my time revolves around my family, for whom I am truly grateful. Still, I also get excited about different kinds of writing projects as well as helping people live higher-quality lives by teaching wellness and fitness. All of these things give my life meaning and allow me to serve others. Kaiser says, “That feeling that something is missing goes away when you lead a passion-filled life. The need to seek our purpose comes from a lack of passion. When you don’t feel connected to your life, you lack purpose and passion. To fix this, emptiness simply add more passion. To boil it down, remember this simple equation: Passion + Daily Action = Purposeful Life.”

Finding life’s purpose is going to be different for everyone. We hear about people that travel the world with no real job, eating amazing food, doing amazing things, and are blissfully happy, though this is much rarer than social media would have us believe. Most of us have to work for a living, and often the jobs are menial and not much fun. That is certainly OK, and it is much more noble to fulfill your responsibilities than it is to not show up for work or not pay your mortgage. Living a life of purpose may have nothing to do with how you pay your bills.

I have known people with seemingly terrible jobs that were perfectly happy, and I have known others that were miserable in spite of their wealth. I can tell you with absolute certainty that some money is necessary, but happiness does not revolve around material possessions. What I have observed is that finding one’s own purpose includes at least four basic elements: 1.) What are you good at 2.) What makes you happy, 3.) What helps others, and 4.) Do your best.

In part 2 of this article, I will go into greater detail about these four basic elements of finding your purpose and give you my “two cents” about finding meaning and adding value to this world.