The Meaning of Life

Better yet, what is the meaning of YOUR life?

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE (scroll down for the meaning part)

Before we get to the meaning let’s first discover the PURPOSE of LIFE, and for that we’ll have to go way back when everything first popped into existence. It was something about God snapping his fingers or by mere chance the universe snapped its fingers, who knows. That’s not important here. What is important is that there was just a bunch of dirt and dust around at that time. The dirt and dust had just one goal, to be dirt and dust. If said dirt and dust would meet they might cling to each other forever or simply bounce of each other. They did this quite often and eventually the earth was formed.

Then something happened, out of the soupy mix of dirt, dust and water, a miracle. Something with a new goal was created. This something was called LIFE, and its goal? Simply put, to make more of itself. That was the difference between dirt and dust and life. Dirt and dust just aimlessly moved about. Life just aimlessly tried to make more of itself.

To achieve this newly inspired goal, life had to get smart. It had to outwit its old friends dirt and dust. Creating things required work and for that it needed energy. The first lifeforms figured out that they could harvest energy from the sun. Brilliant. These witty things are known as plants. They got better at consuming energy and grew stronger. There was one problem though. They were stuck to their old pals dirt and dust, but soon they figured out how to make seeds and they spread themselves to cover the whole earth.

Then another player showed up in the game of life. A sneaky little bugger with a new ability, one that would change life forever as we know it. This little guy figured out how to move about. Not only that, even more surprising and life changing, was his new found ability to eat plants. He no longer needed to stand around and wait for the sun to harvest energy. He could get energy from somewhere else, he could go about all day and night eating plants to his heart’s content. This guy was called an animal.

Then another leap in evolution, the animals started eating each other and all hell broke loose. Suddenly you had animals chasing after one another and others hiding as best they could. Survival became a game of trying to stay safe, eat and procreate. These three goals became the Game of Life and were the essential ingredients that led to all the wonderful variety of life we see today, including you and I.

Or, maybe God just spoke, who knows.

THE MEANING OF LIFE (YOUR LIFE)

So there you have it, the Purpose of Life is just that, “life”, to ensure that it continues on by finding safety, food and fiery romance.

Sorry to disappoint, but wait, the title wasn’t just click bait, after all we haven’t gotten to the “meaning” yet. The meaning of life is what all the philosophers, theologians, boomers and millennials are debating. Better yet, instead of asking “what’s the meaning of life?” The real question I should ask is “what is the meaning of YOUR life?”

After finding a mate and having offspring, what then? The purpose doesn’t go away, it simply gets more exciting. The purpose of your life shifts to ensuring that your offspring thrive and continue to carry on your genes. This provides meaning. It means a lot after all to try and help others survive.

So how do you find YOUR specific meaning? Not everyone will have children but maybe everyone is able to be meaningful in another way. To help another live better or be happier will provide meaning to your life.

Each and every person is perfectly unique in their own way and only by accepting your uniqueness can you find true freedom in living who you really are. Only then can you mean something to those around you, but hold up, before I go down this rabbit hole of trying to tell you how to live your life, after all I cannot possibly know, only you can, let me get back on track and explain how this happened for me.

I found some of this meaning in my life. I found it in part by writing articles about addiction. The reason? I am and addict. It is my own personal struggle through which I have found a greater meaning to MY life. I have incorporated this in my daily work as an Addiction Doctor, I write these blogs, compose guitar songs and help my patients in recovery. I have never felt so much meaning in my life and the work that I do. Every day I wake up with this excitement in my bones, a love for life and those I can potentially help. It’s intoxicating to hear from people who get into recovery and how their lives improve. I could live of that alone.

So how do you find your meaning? Take your biggest struggle, work to overcome it. Use what you learned to overcome it and try to help others overcome that same struggle. Wouldn’t you be happy to do so? Guaranteed, this will provide the most meaning in your life therefore the most joy. Your work will no longer seem like work but instead like a mission. Your work will help preserve the lives of others and in turn preserve yours. I can think of no more nobler path.

Good luck my friends.

Let me know what you are struggling with and maybe I can help you overcome the obstacle in your path to freedom and happiness. (email me on the “contact” page).

Dr Z.