So, let’s put this question out there to everyone who is reading this right now: Do you believe that we have a purpose? A specific reason for which we were put on this earth.
Now I doubt many of us will have an immediate answer to this question unless we have thought about it before, and even then, we may still not have come to a definite or certain answer. A lot of the stuff I write about are from personal experiences; things I have learnt in my life so far. For me, up until about 2016, I never really thought we were put here for a specific reason.
When I was younger, I just thought life was an experience, a game of sorts, that we had the opportunity of playing. This game called life had different levels, and each level had a set of categories within them such as social, economic, physical, educational, etc. and if played well, we would advance through all the level categories, which were all inter-related. There were also a set of rules that had to be followed while we played the game, but as with any game, sometimes people broke the rules and when that happened, sometimes they got caught and were sent back down to lower levels, but sometimes they got away with it and actually skipped ahead passed a number of levels. There were tests and activities that we had to pass and experience in order for us to progress to the next level, which had it own tests and activities that were more difficult than the previous. And depending on various circumstances, since not all people get to start on the same level in each category, a person’s tests and activities would be easier or more difficult in order to get to the next levels, and hence, their lives would seem easier or more difficult.
This was my thinking for pretty much the entire school life. And put quite bluntly, for me personally, at that stage, I was not winning at life, or at least that’s what it felt like.
However, from the time I started university in 2010, during the four years that I was studying there, and at my first job in 2014, which lasted for the next two years after that, it felt like I had gotten the official cheat sheet for life and I was able to skip ahead and advance in life’s levels in a short space of time, almost like I was making up for the slow start I experienced in the beginning. I had the degree, I had the car, I had the friends, I had the money, I had the life: I was winning!
I can hear you thinking: okay Satz, that’s great, but where are you going with this story…?
It was in the latter part of 2015 when I was involved in a serious car accident on my way home from work. Fortunately, I was not seriously injured, which is a proper miracle if you had to see the state in which my car was left. That day, I got the chance to walk away with my life still in play when the game could very well have been over forever. That was the first time I started asking myself the question about what the purpose of life really is and what am I actually supposed to be doing here. It came up because, even though I had all the stuff, I still felt unfulfilled, empty, unmotivated, and actually quite small because I was living in my own little bubble, playing this game and not really thinking about all the external factors that could have monumental impacts on my life. I thought, surely there’s more to life than just these random surprise tests and challenges and activities to advance in these worldly levels. Surely there’s something bigger. And especially now, since I had somehow scored a bonus life, I had been given another chance to figure this whole life thing out, and I was definitely not going to take it for granted.
So, from about 2016, I started searching. I started looking at my life and the world in a different way. I started thinking bigger and getting involved in events and organisations for causes that were bigger than me. I started consciously and critically assessing everything I did, and decided whether it made me feel more fulfilled, or just left me unchanged or empty. While still carrying out my daily career requirements, I started placing more focus, attention and energy on the things that brought me the feeling of fulfillment, purpose and pure joy. And when I did this, my life became so much more than just a game. I wasn’t just living, performing tests and activities, moving up levels, which were pre-conceived by society norms. My life became meaningful. I was so much more involved and connected with everyone and everything around me. I was living with purpose.
For me personally, my purpose is not my 8 to 5 career, however, my 8 to 5 career is a critical part of my life because it allows me to fulfill my purpose. I have found that my purpose is service, more specifically, helping people in their lives by sharing the knowledge and experiences that I have been fortunate enough to acquire.
I am extremely passionate about improving people’s lives, in all aspects, as much as I can. I strongly believe that useful knowledge and information that can help with improving lives should be available to anyone and everyone who needs it and is interested to learn about it, and that monetary or financial circumstances should never prevent a person from getting access to it. Therefore, the only cost incurred by people for anything I do in this regard, whether it is a wellness presentation, or writing an article, or teaching a yoga class, is their time – the most valuable resource I can ask for. However, I am confident that this time spent can be viewed as an investment in yourself and never wasted.
By setting up this website, I aim to reach more people than I am currently able to do with the resources I have available to me at the moment. What I want to maintain, however, is the personal aspect, as well as the relationship and trust that I feel is extremely critical when dealing with people’s lives because everyone is different and has unique situations and needs; therefore, everyone can’t all be helped with a common or generic solution. So, even though I’ll be posting stuff on here for people to read about, I want to encourage everyone to get involved in the conversations, comment on the posts, contact us if there are any suggestions or feedback you would like to give. I want this space to become a community, a place where you are always welcome and able to ask the questions you need to, read about the topics you are interested in, and be part of something that is designed with the aim to help you transform your life for the better.
I now believe, without a doubt, that every single person has a purpose. We all have a very specific reason that we were put on this earth at the time and place that we were. Even though it took me 24 years to find mine, I have been endeavouring to fulfill it every day since. I hope and trust that you reading this will be able to realize the need to find your own purpose, if you haven’t already done so, and that you have the will and strength to then make it your life’s work to share.