What Is the Purpose of Life?

Or to be more specific, what is the purpose of my life? As I moved into adulthood years ago, this question kept whispering in my ear. Growing up I leaned on the adults in my life to show me about life’s purpose. I am not so sure that many of them really knew themselves. They all followed what was taught about being a good person, about contributing to the world, having compassion and going from day to day. A lot of emphasis was placed on being a parent and raising kids to be good. For some people this all seemed to be enough. BUT for many others, myself included, something was missing, something so crucial that the question about the purpose of life kept surfacing.

My quest of pursuing my life purpose by being good, doing what was “right”, helping others, and raising my kids to be good people, left me feeling empty.  My life fell to pieces when my son died by suicide and my marriage ended after 20 years of doing all I could to keep it going. Now I was totally lost as to who I was and what I wanted out of life. The very things that were to be my purpose had dissolved and how much of that was my fault? For indeed if raising a family and keeping a marriage together was my purpose, I  had the task of judging myself to prove that I must have failed. Ugh! No wonder I felt depressed. And I know that I am not alone in this.  I have met others who have had life changing experiences that have left them wondering, “What is the purpose of my life?” What else is there?

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