How to Find Your Purpose in this Season
How to Find Your Purpose
Whether you’re the “New year, new me” type or you’re not much of a believer in making resolutions, the start of a new year is a great time to stop and reflect on your personal growth, set intentions, and reevaluate your direction.
It’s easy to get stuck in a certain lifestyle. Disconnecting from your weekly routine and visualizing where you want to see yourself in the future is an essential step in actually accomplishing your goals and dreams.
At BLUE Missions, we believe that every single person has a unique purpose and that it can be found at the intersection of your greatest passion and one of the world’s greatest needs. If you are entering the new year feeling unfulfilled, or like you have untapped potential, it’s time to pause and consider your purpose.
Your purpose is not a destination, it’s a journey, and it could take you a lifetime to actualize. But the pursuit of purpose is what makes our experience here worthwhile.
Here’s 5 steps to start you on your journey:
List Verbs:
Write a list of action words you love to do the most. These should be activities that excite you; you don’t have to be great at them. Ex: Drawing, reading, running, cooking, problem solving, taking pictures, making new friends, communicating
List Needs:
Write down a second list, but this time of causes or issues that you feel connected to. Ex: Conservation, homelessness, health, gender equality etc.
Match:
This is the part where you get creative. Try to match an action from your first list with a cause from your second list to think of a way you can use your passions to serve others. It’s like writing yourself a personal mission statement. Use this format - “I can _____ to help _____.” For example, if you love cooking and are concerned about homelessness, you can offer your cooking abilities to help serve meals to the homeless. If you love problem solving and feel connected to gender issues, you can help think of policies governments and businesses should adopt. If you love dancing and care for children with autism, you can help lead a special needs dance class. The potential matches are limitless!
Team Work:
For small and grand actions of service, it’s always better to join efforts with others who share a united goal. Once you’ve found how you can take action for a cause, look for local groups or organizations that are already doing that and you can offer your services to. We recommend using VolunteerMatch or searching through Facebook groups and pages. If your idea doesn’t exist yet, local churches, community centers, and clubs like Rotary are great starting points for forming new service-oriented initiatives.
Just Do It:
Once you’ve figured out your personal mission statement and who you can partner with to make it happen, set a date. It’s crucial to set deadlines to hold yourself accountable to your goals. Try out different matches to create a variety of personal mission statements and take action until you feel you’ve found the one that most greatly fulfills you and taps into your potential. At first there may be challenges to seeing your personal mission into fruition, but don’t let road blocks stop you. As long as you’re working towards that mission, you are living with purpose. You’ll know you’re succeeding when you start to see the impact you’re making big or small.
We hope you have an incredible year, and that each loop around the sun finds you closer to your life’s purpose.
Our Mission: To connect communities with access to clean water and sanitation while inspiring a generation of global citizens.
Nuestra Misión: BLUE Missions es un enlace entre las comunidades y el acceso a agua potable y saneamiento, mientras forma una generación de ciudadanos globales mediante los viajes con fines de servicio.
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