Those who know me, or have followed my journey for a while, will be well aware that I seem to flit from one thing to another, changing jobs, moving house and trying to figure out what I want out of life.
I’ve had a lot of thinking time over the last week or so, about life, where I’m at and where I’m heading. One of the things I’ve realised is how important purpose is in life. After a few conversations with friends, some thought provoking books and podcasts and binging ‘the last of us’, my brain went into overdrive around what our ‘purpose’ is. Ultimately, I landed on the fact that we are solely here to survive. This seems like quite a depressing thought, but it doesn’t have to be. It means that everything in addition to surviving, is a bonus and that we can choose our own purpose.
I recently finished reading Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, which I highly recommend checking out. It is all about the finite time we have and looking at how we can make the most of it. In the book, Burkeman talks about how back before the invention of clocks and work schedules, life revolved around surviving. You would wake with the sun, and sleep with the dusk. Days would be filled with essential tasks such as farming and fetching water. There was no rush to get things done, as these tasks would never be ‘complete’. Since the creation of time, money and the working week, the pressure has built. Time means money and people want as much as they can possibly get from every penny. This has led people to try to better manage their time, multi-task and work more efficiently to squeeze more into every of the day. I’m not going to lie, I often succumb to this ‘busyness syndrome’ and it’s something I’m actively trying to move away from.
This shift to busyness, has created an unrealistic standard of what we should be able to fit into a day, or even into our lives. There are never ending to do lists, ever increasing unread emails, growing bucket lists and so much stress that comes with it…and for what? For many, life seems to be focussed on earning more money to buy more stuff. Stuff that will never actually make you happy. Instead, trying to understand the things that truly do make you content can lead you to a much more fulfilling life.
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Finding My Purpose
Unfortunately, finding your purpose doesn’t seem to be so straight forward. From everything I have done though, I know what I don’t want. I don’t want to live somewhere too densely populated, I don’t want a 9-5 office job and I don’t want to have a plan for every aspect of my life. I want to spend my time doing those things that truly bring me joy, with the people who have a positive impact on my life, whilst doing my best to reduce my impact on the environment and world around me.
A few months ago I joined an online workshop hosted by @TheJoyProjectCoach where we looked at different tools to help you live a happier life. One of the things we focussed on was discovering and honing in on our own core beliefs and values, I found this exercise incredibly powerful. Living a purposeful life, is all about doing what truly matters to you, inline with your values and beliefs.
I have found one of the things that has really helped me to change my mindset, is reading. Personal development books seem to sometimes get a bad name, but I love anything that makes me think and suggests ways in which I can change my life for the better. You can check out some of my favourites here.
I also have one podcast which I go back to time and time again and highly recommend. It’s called Optimal Living Daily and consists on 5-10 minute episodes in which a range of different blog posts are read aloud. The original podcast covers topics including personal development, productivity and minimalism, but there are now also several other podcasts that live including one focussed on personal finances, health and relationships. These bitesize chunks give me food for thought and include many little changes I can make to live a more purposeful life.
Disconnecting
Though I’m a long way on from where I used to be, I still spend too much time on social media, comparing myself to others and being flooded with consumerism. This is not the life I want. I want to read a book without having the urge to check my phone every 5 minutes. I want to go for a walk or a swim, without feeling the need to stop and take a picture to document it and show the world what I’ve been doing.
I want to spend my time doing the things I enjoy, for the sole purpose of enjoying them.
I’ve decided to set myself a few challenges to try and break the phone checking habit and to help me become a bit more present:
- Turn my phone off at 8pm
- Put my phone on aeroplane mode when with friends, reading or writing
- Limit social media to 1h/day and have some days off it completely
Minimalism
I recently rewatched the minimalists documentary, for probably the fourth time. Every time I watch it, it inspires me to start that ‘cleanse’ of all my stuff. I know I have too much. I have a load of house stuff in my parents attic that I’ve been holding onto just in case, there are books I know I’ll never reread but still can’t seem to let go of and a huge box of things waiting to be uploaded to vinted. I’m slowly moving in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go.
I have realised that I only wear about 10% of my wardrobe. I have some stuff still in storage at my parents, and a box and suitcase in my current house that I haven’t even unpacked and some charity shop purchases that still have their tags on. The majority of my spare time is spent adventuring, so I live in hiking gear. I don’t really go out, and when I do socialise, I still seem to go for the hiking gear. This is a clear sign that I need to whack some more of my ‘normal clothes’ on vinted, but I just seem to find it difficult to let go.
I certainly wouldn’t call myself a minimalist, but there is a lot that can be taken from the practices and I definitely feel it’s something that aligns well with living a simpler and more purposeful life.
Simple Pleasures
Focusing on those simple pleasures and small moments of joy has been making a big difference to my life. Over the past 4 or 5 months I have been writing a gratitude list pretty much every morning. I now try to start every day writing down three things in my life that I’m grateful for. I’ve found that this few minutes of focus in the morning helps to put me in a more positive headspace and set me up well for the day.
There are lots of little things that I have found which can help to shift my mood when I’m not in the best of head spaces, but these things can also just help to make a good day even better. For me, this includes things like a quick dip in the lake, a cup of my favourite coffee, catching a sunset, quality time with a friend or taking the time to cook and enjoy a good meal. Happiness doesn’t have to come from something huge.
The Future
My next steps are to look at how I can live more purposefully and what changes I can make, especially in the short term. A few of the things I want to try and do over the next year include:
- Attempting to grow some of my own fruit and veg
- Spend less time online and more of my time outdoors being disconnected
- Spend more time reading and learning. I’ve been listening to podcasts whilst cleaning at work which I find is a great time as I’m not distracted
- Be more minimalistic when it comes to my ‘stuff’ – buy less, sell more
I’m kicking things off with a no spend April. You can check out how my last ‘no spend’ month went here. I always find that a no spend month really helps me to reset. It helps me to focus on whether I actually need things, to not buy things on impulse and ultimately, make the most of what I already have.
My ultimate goal is still to buy a small patch of land somewhere, build a small eco house and live off the land as much as possible. This seems like a distant dream, but I guess that knowing that that’s the aim is a step in the right direction.
I welcome any tips, suggestions for books to read or recommendations of people to follow to help me on this journey.
Happy adventuring x
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
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Lisa Outdoors 