The human brain processes and filters more than 70,000 thoughts in a day, including memories, future plans, emotions, stress and much more. The repeated and constant reminiscence of the past, fantasizing about the future, and the questions raised about the present is an everyday thing for many people. Indeed, it is human nature to constantly question, seek and discover. Especially during adolescence and early adulthood, everything revolves around questions about our relationships with people, the school we wish to attend or the career we wish to pursue.
Two of the main themes, which surround one’s reflection on their existence, are both one’s professional career and goals and one’s relationships with other people, such as friends and fellow human beings. A better understanding of the question “what is the purpose of my existence?” requires a more expansive and in-depth analysis of these factors.
To begin with the professional goals and aspirations, we know that this is something that concerns us from very early on. It is, after all, one of the most common questions asked by adults once we realize what professions are. What do you want to be when you grow up? they asked us, and we gave them all sorts of answers, such as a singer, an actor, a doctor or a footballer. However, the above answers changed from time to time, just as we did, just as our interests or inclinations changed. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things to decide (even at age 25 or 30) about the career you want to pursue or whether you made the right decision about the school you attended, as though our self-interest lies in any of that. It should be socially acceptable, not reprehensible, once we realize that a school, a group, a person or a hobby no longer suits us and we decide to turn elsewhere to explore new paths. After all, we couldn’t have known from the beginning if it would be a good fit for us and most of the time we take some kind of risk.
To continue, our interactions with the people around us, whether they are people of our circle or strangers, contribute to the exploration of “what is society” and what is ultimately our role in it. Other people come into our lives for a short time, others for longer, others leave us with a good aftertaste and others with a not so good one. But it is certain that each one of them helps us to get closer to the process of shaping who we are. Of course, sometimes these acquaintances contribute to the creation of an end in itself. For instance, volunteering creates in a person a sense of mutual aid and support, and somehow the person feels that they are contributing and helping their fellow man, society or city, while at the same time forming a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
And so, what is the purpose of our existence? Is there a reason or something else? Is this to help a human being? To get to know someone and learn some life lessons? To succeed professionally and bring some leadership? The question can be answered in many ways, but no two answers are the same for each person, and none is sufficient. As individuals, each of us determines what we feel we can contribute to society and our own surroundings. Human existence is composed of specific, consistently unanswerable questions, and most often it is not characterized by a single thing, but rather by the sum of our dreams, our achievements, our humanity and our goals. The majority of the people in our lives or our decisions may be mere transients, but each of them will contribute to the ultimate shaping of who we are socially, individually and collectively. An individual’s reason for existing is determined solely by what they choose to do and how they will be over the course of their lifetime or otherwise known as one’s life goals.
And if you were expecting to discover through this article the meaning of your life or the “secret” recipe on how to find it, then you should know that the answer cannot be found in a few lines, but in the people who are (or are not) in our lives, in the past memories, in all those future moments that we have not yet lived or in our unfulfilled dreams that are patiently waiting.
