Your Purpose May Evolve And Change As You Do… And That’s Ok

I’m sure throughout this challenge you’ve been thinking a lot about living with purpose and what that means to you right now. I hope you’re living more intentionally already and are changing things here and there to better align with your purpose. You may even discover your big passion and your calling and working towards making that happen. That’s great, but there’s something we haven’t talked about much. It’s that we all grow and change as time goes by. And with that our purposes change.

Let’s say you’re a mother of small children. Right now, living with purpose may mean to spend as much time as possible raising your kids. That may mean becoming a stay at home mom, working only part time, or working from home. That’s great, but don’t feel like that can’t change as time goes by. A few years from now, the kids will all be in school and you find yourself with more time on your hands. It’s perfectly fine to switch focus and get back into your career or try something completely new. Things change and evolve. You change and evolve. Your purpose may evolve as well and that’s perfectly normal and how it should be.

That’s why it’s a good idea to occasionally take some time and think about what’s important to you and make sure you’re still living a purpose driven life based on your current values and ideas. It’s ok to change and adjust if things no longer feel like a good fit. While it’s something you can do “on the fly” as you move through your days and weeks, it can also be helpful to stop every few months and take time to really think about this.

We are creatures of habit and will often stick to a plan, an idea, or a routine because that’s how we’ve always done it, or out of a desire to tough it out. While that’s admirable and there’s certainly a time and place for this, it’s also good to take some time to reflect and second guess what you’re doing.

You want to live your life intentionally and with purpose. That means you should always second guess yourself and make sure you’re doing is a good fit and the best way to live purposefully. If it is, great… carry on. If it isn’t, make some changes until what you do aligns with your purposes.

Avoid Temptations and Wrong Paths Along the Way

We’ve been talking about living with purpose for quite some time. By now you’ve thought quite a bit about what you may want to change or tweak in your own life to live more intentionally and with more purpose. Ideally you will have started to incorporate some of those ideas and are starting to live more purposefully.

Old habits are hard to break and it’s not uncommon to slip back into familiar behavioral patterns that no longer align with your wish to live more intentionally. In addition there will be things and people tempting you to stray off you path as well. You may have the best of intentions to live healthier or example and take better care of your body, but when you walk into the break room at work there’s a big box of doughnuts tempting you. Or maybe you are trying hard to be more patient and understanding with your young children on a day when they are determined to push all your buttons and test the limits of that new patience. It happens. Life is messy and there will always be things that go wrong and people who intentionally or unintentionally try to lead us down the wrong path.

The best way to deal with temptations is to expect them. They are going to show up sooner or later. If they surprise you, you will be more likely to give in. If you know they are coming, you can guard yourself better against them. Learn from each temptation and realize that each one you avoid makes you stronger and more determined to stay your course.

Even with the best intention and our guard up against temptation we can end up heading down the wrong path. Life happens and sometimes things are out of our control. At other times, we may not notice that we’ve chosen a wrong turn until we’re well up that wrong path. It’s ok. It happens. It’s simply time to change course and get back on track. This is why it is importantly to frequently review what we’re doing. This allows us to see what’s happening and if what we’re doing is still aligned with our intentions, our purposes, and our values. Make sure you take this time for reflection and adjust as needed as you go along on this exciting journey of living a purpose driven life.