What Amazing Life Purpose Is Possible for You to Discover for Your One and Only Life?

Getting up with a purpose can keep us young and vital.

I was drinking nightly. Cosmopolitans and Manhattans replaced a glass of wine I previously enjoyed most nights.

I was always a drinker, but I stepped up my imbibing when I reunited with my high school sweetheart fifty years after we split up.

My drinking wasn’t because I was unhappy. I was happy, yet I had lost my purpose. Drinking usurped my energy, my vigor, my dreams.

I retired and moved to Arizona from California to live with my new love. I’d lived in my beloved California for over 40 years; however, Bill and I decided to make AZ our home base while renting an apartment to return to when I visited my sons, sister, and friends.

My life there was full — I worked, volunteered, took art classes, and had friends I saw often.

Establishing life in Arizona came slowly. Yes, I had a volunteer position with Phoenix’s excellent fine art museum, but that was only one day a week. What the heck to do with the other six days?

I did walk my dog, Merlin, every morning, usually with my friend Shannon and her pup, Zoey.

Still, this wasn’t an earthshaking reason to rise with vitality.

Drinking stole my vitality. I lost touch with myself and my dreams. I had no purpose.

It is a fact for those who have a reason to get out of bed every morning, a purpose for opening those peepers and saying thank you for another day — not only live longer but are flourishing and living healthier and happier lives.

Having a job, hobby, or passion helps to keep us inspired, vital, young, and energized. It keeps the old brain from getting stagnant and bored.

According to the Association for Psychological Science:

Our findings point to the fact that finding a direction for life, and setting overarching goals for what you want to achieve can help you actually live longer, regardless of when you find your purpose.

In addition, their research has proven:

Greater purpose in life consistently predicted lower mortality risk across the lifespan, showing the same benefit for younger, middle-aged, and older participants across the follow-up period.

The Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School reports:

The reasons having a life purpose might help improve your health:

• It makes you more likely to protect your health.
• It could reduce stress.
• It could reduce inflammation.

Ultimately, activities that provide life purpose may be prompted by an overall outlook that greatly values life itself.

Five years into my new way of life, I quit drinking. My life, health, and creativity were threatened.

Friends encouraged me to write about my late-in-life marriage, how and why I quit drinking, and some of the challenges I faced throughout my many years.

I began writing for Medium in January 2021 and added AINYF, Illumination, Black Bear, and other publications. I’m continually researching ideas I may write about, curious about so many subjects to explore that the days fly by.

I felt renewed. I was alive and bursting with energy and a desire to achieve.

Another discovery is pickleball. I love the sport, the friends I’ve made, and the camaraderie that developed because of it.

My newfound purpose will add years to my life. I’ve already reaped the benefits of happiness and contentment.

I have a purpose once again.

What is it that inspires you? Motivates you to get those boots on the ground? Are you an exerciser happily anticipating your morning bike ride, hike, run, or getting out in the morning air to walk Fido?

Perhaps it’s time for you to try a new sport? Maybe even give pickleball a go?

Are you an artist and look forward to painting, or a writer penning your memoir or blog? A chef planning your next delicious meal?

It’s never too late to conceive and uncover new passions, goals, and skills as we navigate each new chapter of life.

Dan Buettner, the Blue Zones expert, says:

Frame purpose not as something you find but rather as something you develop — meaning that instead of seeking it out, you may need to look at what you already have and find purpose within it.

My friend, Jennifer, recently retired from her catering business. She is a highly talented and accomplished chef and has begun compiling a cookbook for her two adult children. It will contain favorite family recipes and dishes she often prepared for catering events.

Her recipes will be accompanied by photos and stories of how the recipe came to be. It is still in the infant stages. However, many friends, including myself — would relish a copy of it.

Many were isolated during COVID-19. It’s even more crucial now to reestablish ourselves and have a passion or purpose to guide our days.

Regardless of our age, many of us have only scratched the surface of our potential.

What is still possible for you to discover?

I know so many of you are talented, curious, and lifelong learners with many interests, and I say brava!

As Mary Oliver poetically wrote:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?