Finding A Purpose
This past week in English class, we spent time watching Act 1 of Waiting for Godot. The film features themes of absurdism and friendship and as we can see from the hopelessness of Vladimir and Estragon's lives, humans rely on illusion to find some shred of purpose to their existence. Once uncovering this theme, it became clear to me that this is something that I have been thinking a lot about also.
In Waiting for Godot, we see Vladimir and Estragon converse in an almost repetitive and trivial manner. They seem to be waiting for something to bring purpose and meaning into their lives. This is a feeling that I have personally felt and I want to unpack that. If you don’t know what your purpose is, you don’t know why you are here and it can be hard to keep going. When you have a purpose you feel that your existence matters and that what you do every day is important. In turn, you feel driven to behave in ways that allow you to work toward your goals.
To help me on my new journey of understanding, I did some research. And I found that there’s a great word in the Japanese language – Ikigai – which means having "a reason for being.” This means that you may live to wake up in the morning and raise your children, build your business, or simply tend your vegetable garden- whatever your purpose may be. It may also be that you have more than one purpose in your life and that each is completely independent of the other. This is how I feel most days. Is my purpose to go to college next year and get an MD or is my purpose to start a family, only time will tell?
As I move through life, research has told me that I will spend time doing mundane and routine things but also I will partake in things that have significance and importance. It’s the things that are important to you that give you purpose. So, rather than asking vague and lofty questions such as – “Why am I here?” or “Where is my place?”, in many ways what we should really be asking is, “What can I do with my time that is important to me?” That is how we build experiences and turn them into purpose. As always thank for joining me on Storytime with Sejal and good luck finding your purpose!
In Waiting for Godot, we see Vladimir and Estragon converse in an almost repetitive and trivial manner. They seem to be waiting for something to bring purpose and meaning into their lives. This is a feeling that I have personally felt and I want to unpack that. If you don’t know what your purpose is, you don’t know why you are here and it can be hard to keep going. When you have a purpose you feel that your existence matters and that what you do every day is important. In turn, you feel driven to behave in ways that allow you to work toward your goals.
To help me on my new journey of understanding, I did some research. And I found that there’s a great word in the Japanese language – Ikigai – which means having "a reason for being.” This means that you may live to wake up in the morning and raise your children, build your business, or simply tend your vegetable garden- whatever your purpose may be. It may also be that you have more than one purpose in your life and that each is completely independent of the other. This is how I feel most days. Is my purpose to go to college next year and get an MD or is my purpose to start a family, only time will tell?
As I move through life, research has told me that I will spend time doing mundane and routine things but also I will partake in things that have significance and importance. It’s the things that are important to you that give you purpose. So, rather than asking vague and lofty questions such as – “Why am I here?” or “Where is my place?”, in many ways what we should really be asking is, “What can I do with my time that is important to me?” That is how we build experiences and turn them into purpose. As always thank for joining me on Storytime with Sejal and good luck finding your purpose!
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