The purpose of life evolves

Many people swear by a grand purpose — the reason for their existence. Something they look forward to every day.

Purpose is a personal experience. It evolves — it’s a transformational journey.

You are probably not pursuing the same things you wanted a decade ago. New opportunities and possibilities emerge as we change physically, mentally, intellectually and emotionally.

The purpose of life is not universal. There’s no single reality you need to experience to make life worth living.

Purpose can mean finding and doing the small things that guarantee deep joy every day. It can also mean doing everything you can every day to find more time and freedom to enjoy the small things.

If you are alive, the next 10 minutes, 10 months or 10 years can be meaningful depending on how you perceive it.

Don’t overthink purpose

“Life is a balanced system of learning and evolution. Whether pleasure or pain; every situation in your life serves a purpose. It is up to us to recognize what that purpose could be.” ― Steve Maraboli

Something to look forward to or something worthwhile to do keeps you grounded and focused but doesn’t always guarantee a grand ending in life.

My purpose in life is to evolve into the best version of myself — the tiny details of that are up to me to define. And that can mean dozens of things or a single thing worth my time.

I take things one day at a time. And that means looking forward to connecting with the amazing people in my life. It can also mean doing my best work, being useful, making art, enjoying nature or making time for details around me. Or being more present.

A massive ambition can also be an enormous distraction if you are not good at managing the tiny details. By all means, do more for your life, but don’t get stressed about one giant epiphany.

Purpose is life-changing but don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t have a grand ambition yet. Purpose can’t be rushed.

How you live your life daily matters more. How you spend your days is how you are evolving. We don’t have eternity. Our time is finite. Make the days count, not the grand ambition beyond your reach.

The tiny details of life hold the key to purpose

“The aim of life is self-development, to realize one’s nature perfectly.” — Oscar Wilde

What you do with your morning, afternoons and evenings matters more — not what you are looking forward to 10 years from now.

“Inherent to our existence is that we learn, adapt, and grow. Health, happiness, and longevity are the payoffs for this,” says Mike Brooks, Ph.D., a Psychologist.

If you take care of the daily details today, tomorrow will take care of itself.

Purpose is a daily habit. If you are better, wiser, healthier than you were yesterday, you are better of than someone who is still hanging on to a grand ambition they may never achieve.

Make the days count, and years will take care of themselves.

A sense of purpose grows over time. “I think it’s okay to just wander through life finding interesting things until you die,” says Amber Sparks.
Meaningful experiences accumulate as we evolve and discover new things about ourselves. Something to look forward to makes many people happy in life. The reason you get up in the morning can be a few exciting things, and that’s okay.

You don’t need a single life-changing plan to enjoy your life.

One grand plan won’t do much for you if you are consistently stressed about reaching it. “Purpose is adaptive, in an evolutionary sense,” writes Jeremy Adam Smith of The Greater Good Magazine.

You can experience purpose in a lot of more minor ways throughout life.

Be more mindful of the small stuff:

• The small experiences you look forward to every day.
• Do your best art/work
• Connect with people you care about.
• Putting a smile on someone else’s face.
• Comparing yourself to who you were yesterday — seek transformational experiences that make you come alive.

Don’t miss out on the life you have today. Please don’t spend your entire life trying to figure out the purpose of our existence. Be more present every day.

Free yourself from the complexities of life and living it.

This article originally appeared in Medium.