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Finding Purpose in Every Moment

“At the end of the day, we are all stories waiting to be written.”

You have this moment to live your life. Then you have the next moment, and the next. What you decide to do with the moments becomes the words. They form the chapters. Ultimately, they create the full edition of your life’s story.

I grew up under the pressure to find my purpose. It was framed as something specific, a singular calling, a big destiny waiting for me to discover it. I thought everyone else had theirs figured out, while I was still standing at the starting line.

On good days, I told myself I was simply still searching. On the harder days, the internal mean-girl voice would whisper that I was failing. It said I was somehow behind because I didn’t have a one singular grand purpose.

Throughout both the good and not-so-good days I was teaching. I often shared my belief in classes. I said, “In case someone in here needs to hear this today, you have value. You are valuable.” If you are here in the world, you have value to the world.” I said that because I believed it. It just took longer for me to believe it on my own behalf.

Expanding the idea of purpose

Eventually, my view began to expand. Thanks to living, reading, and a few good Ted Talks, I started to see that each moment holds purpose. I also realized that a single life holds many. The idea of one grand, all-defining purpose started to feel too small for the scope of a human life.

Philosopher Thaddeus Metz describes this beautifully in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He suggests that meaning in life doesn’t come from one cosmic reason. Instead, it comes from the ways we order our lives around self-determined purposes. These are the things we choose to care about and act upon. In other words, purpose isn’t something handed to us. It’s something we create, again and again, through the way we live.

Across history and culture, people have recognized that life can hold more than one purpose. In Hindu philosophy, for example, the concept of Puruṣārtha includes four legitimate aims of human life. These are dharma (duty or ethics), artha (prosperity), kāma (pleasure and fulfillment), and moksha (liberation or spiritual freedom). Each of these can be a worthy pursuit depending on your stage of life or what the moment calls for. It’s a powerful reminder that we aren’t meant to live one-note lives.

What’s the Difference Between Meaning and Purpose?

People often use meaning and purpose interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same.

  • Purpose is about doing. It is the actions or goals we pursue with intention.
  • Meaning is about feeling. It’s the sense of significance or fulfillment we get from those actions.

Purpose gives direction; meaning gives depth. Both are flexible, shifting as we grow.

Psychological research backs this up. In a 2016 study in the Journal of Research in Personality, Patrick Hill and his colleagues found important insights. People who identified multiple sources of purpose showed greater resilience and well-being. These sources included relationships, creativity, contribution, or personal growth. To put it another way, having many ways to live meaningfully offers protection. It prevents us from falling into the trap of thinking we’re lost if we haven’t found the one thing.

Creating meaning moment to moment

It’s easy to imagine that “purpose” is something waiting at the end of a long journey. That it’s something you’ll finally reach when you’ve done enough, achieved enough, or become enough.

Comforting a friend, doing work in your current role, writing a page, or making dinner. Taking a walk to clear your head. These moments can be purposeful. These things can be as meaningful as a mission statement. They are part of your story, too.

Psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, wrote:

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

Frankl believed that even in suffering, we can choose our response. That choice itself becomes a source of meaning. We might not always choose what happens to us, but we always choose how we respond. In that choice, we shape the next line of our story.

Living “on purpose”

I continued to learn that the search for one great purpose was never the point. Maybe purpose is found in living on purpose. Living within the awareness that this breath, this word, this simple kindness, or the next best step is enough to give life meaning.

Writer and philosopher Dan Cumberland puts it this way in The Meaning Movement:

“Your purpose is not a singular discovery. It’s an ongoing practice — an evolving relationship between who you are and how you choose to show up.”

That perspective frees us from the false pressure to have it all figured out. It reminds us that meaning is something we co-create, not something we’re missing. You value is not in question.

When I look back now, I can see that I was never really without purpose. I just couldn’t see the many small ones that made up my life teaching, creating, listening, loving, learning. Each, a thread in a larger tapestry. Together, they wove meaning and hopefully continue to do so.

If you’re feeling behind, uncertain, or like you haven’t yet found your “thing,” remember this. You don’t have to have one purpose to be worthy of your life. You are already valuable because of the way you live, love, and choose to keep writing your story. At the end of the day, you are not missing your purpose. You are living it, moment by moment, chapter by chapter.

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Amanda is passionate about people development with over 25 years helping others grow.