Seeking to understand one’s place in life is a noble endeavor. Yet it is not a project to be defined by action plans and steps. It comes from focused effort yet is not the direct product. Let me explain.
Many of us desire to understand our purpose in life or a stage of our life. What is the meaning of what we do? What does it matter in the end? Stepping away from our daily routines allows this question to float to the top of our consciousness. Vacation, a conference or a walk around the block can allow space for this query to bubble up.
More often than not it leads to a point of frustration; a riddle of life we just can’t solve. Why am I here and what is this all for? As we relax on a warm beach, half asleep, our mind directed not by outside influences but adventuring places it may not get to wander. As we watch children laughing and cavorting in the sun and waves, the aspects of our work life appear more and more trivial.
Yet it is in that work that we are able to provide these moments for ourselves and our loved ones. What then if that work could be as fulfilling? To strive toward something grander than just a day to day existence? What would it be like if life were lived that way? Work, requiring us to dig deeper, to move outside our comfort zone, to attempt, to fail, to discover a better way. Not easy, often frustrating but always with that feeling of moving forward.
As I walked out of Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska in mid-July, I knew that I had discovered this for myself. No it wouldn’t be easy. Yes, it would take all that I could give and more. And I would gladly give it. Through no grand plan of my own but simply following what called me, I have found where I belong because I know who I am.
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