Sense of Purpose & Meaning: A Determinant of Well-being

Do you find that you’re struggling with a sense of languishing or just not feeling fulfilled in the majority of the activities you engage in? It’s a common problem. It’s something that I often talk about with my health and wellness coaching clients when we talk about their values and what’s important to them and the activities in which they engage in, because there’s often a real disconnect there.

And what’s important for us to consider is our sense of purpose and meaning, and this is one of the core areas of integrative wellness. And when that area is really lagging or lacking for us, oftentimes it impacts other areas, just our overall wellbeing and how we feel.

And so it’s important for us to consider if we can add in activities throughout our week or our month that help to fulfill our sense of purpose and meaning. And these don’t have to be huge, like saving the environment or feeding every homeless person.

It could be something really small, but still gives you a sense of what your purpose is or how you add value or how you see yourself fitting into the world around you.

So for example, if you’re someone who really connects with nature and spending time in nature makes you feel like you are grounded and just gives you this general sense of just fitting in and everything sort of making sense, then it might be nice to take a hike on the weekend or to get some outdoor time on the weekend so that you fulfill that need to be part or one with nature.

Or maybe you’re someone who likes to take care of other people as a caregiver, and that’s part of your identity, and that gives you a real sense of meaning. You might want to volunteer to be a mentor at work or to volunteer to help little children who are in need of a big brother or a big sister.

Or perhaps you’re someone who wants to be on a team that really fulfills your sense of purpose and meaning. You like to know that you play an important role on a team and that they need you and relying on you for success. You might want to consider signing up for a sports league, a rec sports league that’s just for fun.

These activities are both fun and fulfilling, so they help to fulfill that need, to have that sense of purpose and meaning, which spills over into other areas of our health and wellness, which is part of the integrative wellness model. They’re all different areas like nutrition and sleep and movement and purpose and meaning that are all related and connected to each other.

And actually, there was a study done, which showed that when we lack sense of purpose and meaning, we feel lonely.[1] So almost as if we don’t have the relationships that we need, again, highlighting how integrated all these different aspects of our health are.

And so I ask you this week, if you can consider what gives you a sense of purpose and meaning. Is there something that you particularly value or a role that you like to play? And are there some activities, not horribly overwhelming or time consuming, but some simple things that you can do to feel more connected, to fulfill that sense of purpose and meaning?

And can you set a goal this week to do one of those? Our health and wellness does not have to feel overwhelming. Oftentimes, there are very simple things we can do to feel more connected, to feel healthier, to feel calmer. And this is one of them.

Give it a try this week and let me know how it goes. If you like tips and techniques like this, consider signing up for Take five. It’s my newsletter where I email out all kinds of simple science-based practices for a calmer, happier life.

[1] https://neurosciencenews.com/sense-of-purpose-loneliness-23534/