Purpose of Life - The ultimate cause to live for.

I still remember the golden days of my childhood. I used to sit on my grandmother’s lap hearing to my grandfather’s stories while she used to caress my curly hair with her gentle fingers.

Among the pile of stories, I carried a simple story (which I considered to be the worst one from him in my childhood) throughout my life, the story about purpose of life. At the age of 10, I didn’t realise the impact of the story in our life. But in my later days, when I was exposed to the outside world, I came to understand the insights of the story, about the purpose of life.

Two rats; Nick and Mike, best pals, use to run from their hole to a cupboard where they use to find the grains and nuts. Both of them use to run for their food on regular basis. Nick always had fun and enjoyed his life. He used to wear his shoes whenever he felt hungry. But on the other hand, Mike was conscious about what will happen if the grains and nuts had gone empty. He ate only twice for the day thinking about the future. Days passed, Mike started to feel jealous about Nick since he ate all the grains and nuts whenever he felt so. But Nick convinced him to have the grains and nuts whenever he felt hungry. But the fear for future haunted him continuously which restricted Mike’s happiness.

Whenever my grandfather told me a story, he used to complete it with a moral at the end. But this time it was different. He completed the story without saying the moral in it. I insisted him to convey the moral of the story. He just said the following words.

Among Nick and Mike, whose life do you want to lead?

“Nick, Nick!” I shouted to which he laughed at me.

 “You can find happiness wherever you need. You can also create your own happiness. But make sure of one thing. If your happiness doesn’t hurt someone, it is worth celebrating.”

At that time, I was completely disappointed and frustrated hearing the story. But when I grew up and started to face the reality of my life, I came to understand the importance of the story, importance of the purpose of life.

When we are young, we use to live a happy life. We do things that interest us. Moreover we experiment ourselves in various fields that interests us even if we are not experienced in it.

But what is wrong with us when we grow up? Is it the society we are afraid of or is it about our future?

We change our character that we had in our childhood according to the society. We develop ourselves in every possible way. Education, skills, knowledge, physic. But we forget to search our purpose or passion that interests us. We forget our basic character what we followed as a child.

We all are Nick when we were young. But we live the life of Mike as soon as we grow up. I remind myself with the story of Nick and Mike whenever I feel that I have lost my path in my journey of life. I ask myself ‘What is my purpose in life?’

I decided that the ultimate purpose of life is to be happy. So I started my journey of life in search of happiness. But I couldn’t feel the happiness on a long time basis. It never lasted long. Whenever I tried to live the life of Nick, I ended up by living the life of Mike. I ended up asking the same question, ‘What is the purpose of life?’

I started exploring this with people I have crossed in my life. At first, I started asking, “What is your purpose in life?” Most commonly they all had a common purpose, to lead a successful life, to become rich.

Further I started asking the same question to knowledgeable persons I have crossed path in my life. They all had their own answers, their own meaning for purposeful life. But none of them interested me.

I started digging myself. Another step closer to insanity, I started asking myself “How to find my purpose in life?” But I couldn’t find the answer for it.

After a while, again I reminded myself with the story of Nick and Mike, and what my grandfather said in the end.

You can find happiness wherever you need. You can also create your own happiness. But make sure of one thing. If your happiness doesn’t hurt someone, it is worth celebrating.

I again started to seek happiness but this time I started to search happiness in what I did in my life. I started working and experimenting in the field I am interested. Soon I recognized it as my passion.

Later I started to monetize my work which I was interested in. Even though the level of happiness was low, it was constant in my life. But I was sure about one thing, my happiness shouldn’t hurt anyone as I started living the life of Nick.

Most commonly, we all are living the life of Mike. We stop doing what we are interested in rather we run behind money fearing for the future need. We have sowed a wrong seed for the meaning of rich and money. Behind every rich, there lies a purpose in their life. Money is just a by-product which they acquire in their journey of succeeding their life purpose.

As Robert Byrne said,

“The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.”

About the Author:

Shripathy Swaminathan is a passionate writer and an aspiring author from the Manchester city of India. Graduating in the field of engineering, he started his quest to find the writer in himself in order to inspire people by his thoughts.

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