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Karen R. Blake’s Lessons from the Sidelines is a book to help connect life experiences to purpose. In this day and age, it’s difficult to really think about yourself and know what you want to do in life. Everything is just so busy, and the world feels so cluttered. Yet, lighting up your own way and learning how to is important.

Critically so.

You see, we all want to have purpose in life.

Purpose is what drives us. It’s what pushes us towards farther horizons. It is the light at the end of the tunnel. Without purpose, people would be like boats without sails or engines, only pulled forward by the waves and the wind. No agency, no impetus. Not one of us wants to live like that. Sometimes, we may like to believe that that’s a good way to live life–but deep down, we know it’s not. That’s why people get tetchy when you call them lazy or lacking in passion. People get cynical and nihilistic when you call them out on that.

Because we all have drives–and when it seems like there is none, we feel empty.

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Lighting Up Your Own Way

What really blinds people to discovering their own path in the world is the idea that purpose is something grand, something singular. It could be. But it doesn’t have to be. Often, purpose is specific to time and place–and that’s okay. The beauty of the world is that it’s always in flux. What this means is that there’s always something to be done. And, for many, that is what purpose is: something to be done. Something that just needs the first step.

There doesn’t necessarily have to be one overarching purpose to life. Sometimes, there’s a whole lot of stuff to do, and–like a mosaic–if you take the time to fit them all into each other: you make a larger and more beautiful image.

Experiencing Purpose

While some find purpose already laid out before them, many people struggle with it. And because they struggle, people get burned out. Believing their lives to be without purpose, they purposefully retreat from it, hiding themselves until something happens. This is not ideal. Purpose is not something that exists in the physical world. Purpose, as cliché as it sounds, can only be found from within.

What this means in careful practice is that if you want to find purpose in life, you have to act like you are looking for it. This means having to interact with the world. You see, purpose–in its most basic sense–is just urging that the mind and the spirit be captured in reaction to the circumstances of the corporeal world. You have to be in the world to actually have some purpose in it. So, do not lie down on your bed all day, and, as the kids say, touch grass.

The Shifting of Purpose

The purpose is not static, nor is it set in stone. Lighting up your own way is not walking down the same road until you reach death. Instead, the purpose is a block of bare marble. It’s on you to carve or chisel it into something. Thus, as one grows and adapts to the world around them, changing with it, your purpose may transform too. What was certain during your teenage years may fade away and be replaced as you reach your thirties. New responsibilities and new experiences beget new senses of purpose.

This does not mean to say that you lived without purpose until such and such happened. This means that only that purpose is malleable and impermanent, which is good because what your purpose was as a child should ideally not be your purpose as an adult.

Discovering Purpose in the Everyday

It’s crucial to widen the definition purpose. Purpose doesn’t always have to manifest in headlines or accolades. It can be found in the quiet dedication of a teacher nurturing young minds, the compassionate care of a nurse tending to the sick, or the simple act of being a loving and supportive friend or family member. Meaning resides in the intention and the impact, however small it may seem.

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Lighting up your own way is about embracing your unique individuality and aligning your life with what truly matters to you.

So, take a deep breath, embrace the unknown, and trust in your ability to illuminate your own path, one meaningful step at a time.

Copies of Lessons from the Sidelines can be ordered here.