#finding meaningful work

[littermature]

To Live Is To Work. Tales From The Walk Behind Me, NO.11

"Let's not be petty by comparing apples to oranges, it doesn't matter what you're working on, or working for. What matters is tenacity, persistence, and effort." Excerpt from: To Live Is To Work. Tales From The Walk Behind Me, NO.11

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[yearofwhoami]

263. I AM MEANING

We all know we won’t last forever. At least vaguely, we understand that. And to some extent, that makes our lives feel a bit meaningless. What is the purpose of living and experiencing things if you just cease to exist one day? To what end did you do all your living, experiencing, suffering and loving? 

So we give meaning to our lives. We find or create things we believe are worth living for. The things to which we devote our lives in the hope that they will survive us. Ideas, books, inventions. Children, causes, policies. Poems, artwork, spiritual guidance.

There is no one meaning to life. This is well stated in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Instead, there are the things we decide have meaning for us. For each of us, individually. These things change throughout our lifetimes. Some people seem to find one life calling to which they devote everything. Many of us envy them. For the rest of us, I believe, there are many things in which we find meaning and purpose and many things we’re called to do over the years. I think for people in the second boat, we fear we’ll pick the “wrong” life path and waste our lives devoted to something that’s not “what we were meant to do.” The sooner you can drop that notion, the better. You will find meaning again and again and again, and if something has meaning to you, then it’s worthwhile for you. And, if you are spending all your precious time doing things that feel meaningless to you, stop doing those things. The search for meaningful work does not mean that we think you’ll land in a magical wonderland where your job never requires some tasks that are mind-numbing. Instead, the promise of meaningful work is that you’ll understand why they’re important to the end goal, and that you’ll have decided for yourself that that end goal is worth suffering toward. Passion actually means something like “that which you’re willing to suffer for.”

You will not last forever. So do things that have a lasting impact - one that you’re proud of. 

[onthelivingedge]

Finally getting serious about the life changing.