“There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is meaning to one’s life.”
—Viktor E. Frankl
Ever since I read this quote, I have been turning it over and over in my head. It rings true to me, deep down. We all live through countless challenges. Some of us have lived through multiple traumas. What helps us survive the hardest things?
Meaning.
But what is meaning?
That’s the question I wanted to answer after Viktor E. Frankl’s words got stuck on repeat.
And what does it mean to have meaning to your life?
These are questions the great philosophers of every age have tried to answer. And the difficult and freeing thing about philosophy is that there is no one right answer.
We all find different meaning to our lives. And sometimes, as we grow and change, the meaning to our lives grows and changes.
When I consider the meaning to my life, I find myself asking more questions. What is my purpose? What have I been put on this earth to do? How can I make the world a better, kinder, more just, more egalitarian, more enlightened, more loving place?
Your questions may look the same, or they may look entirely different. But I believe they all boil down to one overarching question: Why am I here?
We find meaning to our lives in purpose.
It’s not always easy to figure out or even remember our purpose, especially when we have brain disorders. Depression often clouds our purpose. OCD yells too loudly to hear it. Anxiety spirals too strong a whirlpool to clearly see it. But on our good days, we probably know why we’re here.
To love the people around us.
To remember we belong to each other.
To repair the broken places of the world.
The spread light and love and hope and compassion and acceptance and wonder and meaning.
There it is again: meaning.
When we know our lives have meaning—that there is a purpose to our existence, that we are important and necessary to a world that doesn’t always make us feel important and necessary—we can, as Frankl said, “survive even the worst conditions.”
How do we find our purpose? We look inside ourselves. And if our hearts and minds are too cloudy to see it, we ask someone who loves us and knows us. Why do you think I’m here? What value do I bring to the world?
Sometimes we forget our purpose, the meaning to our lives. It’s good to have someone else to ask, even if they don’t know the exact right answer. They can set us back on the path to discovery.
And when we find our purpose and meaning—whether through someone else or through our own self-reflection, it’s worthwhile to write it down. Keep it in a special folder or hang it on a bulletin board. Read it every night before you go to sleep.
Because challenges will come again. We’ll forget who we are and why we’re here. And we’ll need reminders.
I hope you always know how important you are to the world. Happy holidays.
Some questions to help your journey:
Sometimes writing can help us lock in on a purpose.
Here are some hopefully helpful questions to ask yourself in the quest to discover your purpose and the meaning to your life. Journal your answers. Pay attention to recurring themes. Remember, always, that you are vital and irreplaceable. No one else can be you. No one else can do what you do. No one else can accomplish your purpose.
1. Why am I here?
This can often be a difficult question to answer—and it may change during the seasons of life. If you’re having trouble answering it yourself, ask a partner or a close friend or family member. As mentioned above, sometimes others can see our purpose more clearly than we can. At least they can provide us with a springboard for deeper thought and reflection.
2. What do I love doing?
Considering what we enjoy doing can lead us to the cross-section where our passion meets our purpose. Passion provides meaning to our lives; if we find ourselves in a place where we lack passion for our work or our everyday lives, we’ve probably lost sight of the meaning to our lives. Reconnecting to that passion can help us reconnect to meaning and remember who we are and why we do what we do.
3. How do I want to impact the world?
Connecting why we’re here and our passion with a deeper purpose—like writing truth in our stories or enlightening people with our poetry or spreading compassion and love—can often lend a deeper meaning to our lives. There may be many people who desire to spread the message to kids that they deserve love just for being themselves—but no one can do it the exact same way I can. They do it their way. I do it mine—which means I’m necessary, too. And my life has meaning.
It’s the same for you. You have meaning to your life. We all do; we just have to look deep inside ourselves and find it. And embrace it. And live it.
