There will come a point in everyone’s life when no amount of money, success, or fame can protect you when you are stricken by the human epidemic for a need to answer to no one but yourself, to the question of: what is the meaning of life? Not in a philosophical way, but in a "what is the purpose of my life?" Your life specifically.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a single 40-year old father or a young international vagabond, at one time or another, this is the question that will change you.
PURPOSE
"But I went to Costa Rica!" the single father exclaimed, as if traveling should have given him internal peace towards finding purpose. He expected to find answers in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, where monkeys scream hourly in the deep vegetation of Monte Verde. Sadly, he came back with the same conscience – the answers were not there, and his mind remained unchanged.
I’ve been there, but my experience is not yours, and your experience is not mine. My answers are not yours; it will not satiate your needs, only my own.
So the single father is on this mission, triggered by the birth of his daughter three years ago, to do everything he can to raise her to be a wonderful, spectacular woman – he’s ambitious. He’s looking to build a legacy that his daughter can be proud of when she grows up. The challenge is – he doesn’t know what to do or what his life or passion is all about. How easy it would be to catch your dream and know exactly how you can make a difference in life.
“I don’t care if I’m forgotten, but I’d like to do something meaningful while I’m here, starting with raising my daughter. I want my daughter to become the most remarkable woman.” Unfortunately, although I admire his passion and ambition, I can’t help but think that his mission to make her into the world’s wonder woman will leave them both relentlessly unsatisfied, chasing an undefined dream.
FUN
“You will see that nothing really matters,” said the 60-year old guru, who runs a successful medical practice, to the young international vagabond. “So when you become successful, then what? When you get your higher education, then what? What else will you do? When will it be enough?”
The guru’s point to his student – it’s an endless cycle and you’re stressing out for what will become nothing.
“I just want to have fun,” said the young vagabond. “I don’t know what my future is going to be like (family, marriage, career, etc); I just want to have fun.” Sounds fair: if everything becomes nothing, have fun with everything. Why not? Fun includes good times, eating, drinking, sex, learning, growing, exploring, adventures – whatever floats your boat.
PURPOSE & FUN
From the young vagabond to the single father, maybe life is a convergence of purpose and fun. Those who say you can’t have your cake and eat it too are hungrily missing out, because…what’s the point if you don’t have a cake and why not eat it too?
