Have you ever found yourself dwelling on the question, “What’s the purpose of my life?” Or have you ever felt that you are just wandering around and have no clue what you’re going to do with your life?

You certainly might have. These feelings that you experience, if not handled properly, might mislead you and hinder you from becoming the best version of yourself. One may wonder how to deal with these feelings of purposelessness that we all feel at one time of the other. Well, there are many ways to find yourself when you feel lost in life. Here are some of them.

Try new things

Let me put this to you in this way — how would you know that you have a talent for cooking if you never tried to cook anything? Of course, to know if you can do something or not is to first try doing it. If you find it interesting and doable, good for you, otherwise there is nothing wrong in giving up after something doesn’t work out for you. At least you made the effort and had an experience, and we always learn from all the experiences we have, whether they are good or bad.

The same applies to finding the purpose of your life. You’ve got to try a lot of new things and discover what excites you.

Franklin D. Roosevelt put it so well: “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

Follow your intuition

Don’t be a people-pleaser and listen to the inner voice. People might expect you to do something that you don’t want to do. Well, don’t do something just because others want you to do that. It’s your life, do what you want to do. Go with your gut.

But if you’re making every possible effort to please others, you’re already doomed. They would consider you a doormat.

In the words of Herbert Swope: “I cannot give you a formula for success but I can give you a formula for failure – which is trying to please everybody.”

Seek advice from experts

Seek advice, but not from charlatans. These so-called philosophers could be seen everywhere these days distributing life advice even though they have no idea what they are talking about.

Once Rumi said: “When setting out on a journey, don’t seek advice from those who’ve never left home.”

Spend some time locating the real folks who have already found the purpose of their lives. And ask them how they did it and what difficulties they encountered on their way. Listen carefully and then ask for advice.

Spend some time alone

Spare some time, remove all the distractions, sit alone and take a deep breath. You would be astonished to see how answers pop up in solitude. When you’re alone, away from every distraction and your mind is still, its efficiency increases dramatically.

Once Blaise Pascal said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

Don’t lose hope

A few weeks back, I was conversing with a Pakistani author. He was telling me how he published his first book and how long it took him to get it published. It took him more than four years and he faced numerous rejections.

I asked him how he dealt with these rejections. He replied that we should accept the rejection, allow yourself to be sad for a day or two and then try again. When you try something new and it doesn’t work out, don’t lose hope and quit. Try something new and keep trying. Eventually, you will the purpose of your life.

So dear friends, when right now we are at a junction in life where there is so much uncertainty going on due to Covid-19 and so many of our plans have been shelved, there is a need to find a new direction in life. There is a need to do things in new ways to continue safe distancing to avoid

catching the coronavirus. Soon when you try different things that you never thought of before, you will find something that will suit you and your life will find its direction again. Good luck!

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 8th, 2020