A post about Purpose
It is human nature to pursue purpose. People dedicate their lives to different things, and do those things well because of intention behind their actions. For example: a person has to have something beyond motivation to choose running as a sport, and be competitive in it.
Our cross country team has a motto this year, and that motto is one word:
“Purpose”
The one word asks exactly what we all look for: the “why?”. In this case: “Why are those crazy cross country members running on a Saturday morning?” In other cases: Why are we competing in a sport? Why are we working overtime? Why are we choosing choice a over choice b? Some of them come with answers, but those answers lead to more questions: Why would we study for a math test? (For the grade, most likely) Why do we want the grade? (To get into a better college and graduate with less debt) Why are we going to college? (To learn) Why are we learning? (To grow) Why are we growing? (To succeed) Why do we want to succeed? (Because it feels a whole lot better than failing.)
Why am I writing this blog post right now? To share.
And that’s what I’ve decided my purpose to be:
My goal is to share my God-given joy and creativity with everybody.
and a purpose really is a goal. a goal for a life.
Life is full of goals, but purpose is a goal full of life.
I would be able to fall asleep feeling accomplished each night if I could point to a moment (or moments) in that day I worked towards my goal. I value joy and creativity above almost anything, so when I share it with others, I share the value God has given me, with them.
Purpose in Art
Great examples of purpose in art are students’ AP portfolios. Primarily because they each have a “guiding question” (a.k.a. a purpose) driving the collection of works. My AP portfolio’s guiding question this year is along the lines of: “How can I twist fairy tales to show how messed up our world really is?” And I have proceeded to make works displaying sadly true depictions and statistics of teen suicide, child trafficking, and drug overdosage with Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty as the victims (to name a few).
Just as guiding questions streamline portfolios, so does purpose streamline lives.
Moving Forward…
…is the only way we really can move in time, isn’t it.
I’ve taken a new step forward: I’ve recorded a video of myself talking, and posted it.
I was scared even thinking of posting a video on YouTube, and sharing my joy and creativity that way. There are so many nuances to YouTube, and so many rules, and so much editing, and so much software and troubleshooting and and and then I pressed record.
I told myself, “this is a benchmark. It has to be bad so I can improve.” and I went for it.
Too often I try and jump right in and perform perfectly. I’ve been able to do that nearly my whole academic career thanks to an incredible, high-functioning mind. But there are so many more things I can’t be perfect at from the getgo. SO many things. And filming myself is one of those.
So this first video has no editing. No script. No planning. except for a newly discovered purpose and oh, so much excitement to share. Excitement to share my thought.
and while it may still change some day, I can be content now because
I’ve finally defined my purpose.
