3 things to do when you don’t know your life’s goal
I have always been someone who thinks of an idea and decides to execute it instantly. Everything that is so fresh seems new and inviting. Once I dive right in, a few days later I realize, it doesn’t interest me anymore. Does this sound familiar to you? It is very common to feel this way once in a while. You’re full for enthusiasm, you’re young and ready to take on anything that comes your way. But what comes after is the feeling of failure and disappointment. That’s that feeling right there that you need to acknowledge and let yourself know that these plans aren’t long-term, they’re little adventures you decided to take on to break free from the everyday. These were not milestones you didn’t achieve or goals that set you back. They’re simply there to keep your creativity going.
When you reach a point where you don’t know what you’re doing, look around and see where you are. What is really that one thing that you need, to get back on track. Use these distractions as ways to step out, breathe for a while until you’re ready to step back in. There is always room for new ideas in your life. Whatever you feel like being today, feel it with all your heart.
Here is an exercise you can do to step out of your routine to do something new. Close your eyes and take your foot of the break in your imagination. Give into it completely. You want to be a pianist today? Imagine yourself playing at a concert, the theater is full of people sitting on those red chairs, mesmerized by your music. Hear them applaud for you. Go the extra mile and imagine what your life would be as a pianist. And don’t hold yourself back, this is your dream, you can do anything you want to do. Once you are ready to open your eyes, put a smile on your face, open your eyes gradually and let yourself feel the complete satisfaction of being able to live this dream life vividly.
Sometimes we don’t want these dreams to come true, we just need a happy moment to break the monotony of the everyday. This helps you relax while not forcing you to question every aspect of the current life you’re living. Maybe you do need change, maybe you need certain things to change, but impulse won’t take you very far. If you really think there is something else, you’d rather be doing, once you finish the exercise mentioned above, wait for a day, and if still feel strongly about this idea, write it down. Every detail you can possibly think of. From the moves you’ll have to make professionally and personally. How will it change your currently lifestyle? How will it affect your daily routine? What would your safety net be? Take your time and jot everything down. Once your plan is ready. Give it a week before you come back to it. Give yourself a week and see how strong or weak your urge is to go execute this plan. This will tell you whether you are interested or not.
Let’s say you are ready to do this, then it’s time for a reality check. Find that one person in your life who will give you a harsh critique. You know they have a good heart but do mean everything they say. Find that person and see what they have to say. We all need these reality checks when we try so hard to pile pros over cons for something we want badly. We are all guilty of making ourselves and others believe this is the right thing to do and everything is miserable in our life. That’s why they say, “grass is greener on the other side.” You are so blinded by something imaginary that nothing can stop you when you want it. This is that point where you need to realize what you have and what you’re missing. Give yourself enough credit for the life you’ve build so far. If you have come so far after planning things out so well for yourself, maybe a break is all you need.
Social media is really changing the way we see things. It has given us a false impression of what life should be like. We look at perfect photos and assume the photo to be true. We don’t want to believe the reality of it being staged. We go on to comparing out lives with it and feel like underachievers. To make it worse, with social media and new age technology, our attention span has taken a big hit as well. We want a new t-shirt; it’ll get delivered in a day. We want to take a vacation; it’ll be a flight away. We want to go on a date, it’s a swipe away. We want a great career, well that in reality is far away. It will take time; we need to know the difference. Technology has made things easy for us, but don’t forget to give yourself reason to believe that there are things that take longer.
If you think you don’t have the patience to wait for anything, there is something you can do to make yourself realize it’s possibility. Today, when you get time, go out and buy yourself a small plant. Ask the store to let you know long it’ll take this plant to bloom or grow a fruit or vegetable. Every day, religiously water this plant, take care of it, nurture it and speak to it. Make it a ritual, something you look forward to everyday. Few months will pass and when you finally see the first bloom, you’ll realize how capable something can be when it’s nurtured over time. That’s you as well. You might be feeling stuck but that’s all in the mind, you can give it time, and you’ll get out of it.
So don’t waste any more time on quizzes, questions or anything that you think will tell you your life’s purpose. Take charge of it yourself because no one knows or understands you better than yourself.
