He whose life has why can bear any how

These are the words of Freidrich Nietzsche, but you can use them as well.

A beautiful thing, among many others, about living in the 21st century is information. Information is everywhere. Wherever you go you can get informed. The irony is you don’t even have to go anywhere!

It’s all in the palm of your hand.

Accessibility of information was never greater and never cheaper. For $0 you can inform yourself about almost anything. The only thing you need to invest is — your time (and maybe sometimes a little bit of money).

Another beautiful thing about the 21st century is that so many smart, knowledgeable people came before us, so we don’t have to start thinking from the scratch, we can just continue building on top of their knowledge.

However, at the same time, I can’t escape the notion that humans are more lost than ever. In spite of all the information that we collectively know, and that is more or less available to all of us.

And here is the proof:

Depressed much?

I have already mentioned logotherapy in one of my previous stories. You can read about it here:

Why I am mentioning logotherapy? Because I am obviously not the first one who thought part of the problem lies in lack of purpose. Viktor Frankl, the guy who created logotherapy, thought that our primary motivational force is to find a meaning in life. That’s what the core of the whole therapeutic approach was about.

This is not the story where I teach you how to find your life’s purpose. Nor is this the story where I sell my program (maybe some other time ;)). I am just wondering out loud, if the need for meaning was always so strong as it is today.

I’m sure humans always struggled with the meaning of their existence. And I am also sure that the struggle will not stop any time soon. Maybe the distractions on the way to finding our purpose are different across generations, but the struggle is the same.

The beauty of that struggle is that it is private as much as collective. It is universal and timeless.

A good thing about purpose — you can define it by yourself (as you should). People before you did it, so there is no reason why you couldn’t do it as well.

The magic in the story is, that once you define your purpose your life will change upside down. In a good way. Any “how” that comes will be easier to bear and the solution will be found quicker once you meet your purpose.

I’m not saying the life struggle, in general, will stop. That would be unrealistic to expect. However, all problems that come your way will seem like part of the journey. They will be lessons that you need to absorb and learn so that you can move onto another level.

So take this story as a lesson 0. A lesson that announces more that is to come. Take it as an introduction. Take it as a prophecy of the future you can choose. How your future can look like if you chose to find your purpose. Take it as a teaser for the best movie — your future life.

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