How to Find Yourself: The Purpose of Life Equation

My alarm went off at 6:30 AM last Friday. I looked around my room remembering it was a big day and orientated myself to my memories. The ordinary room looked like this.

The day would end with me many miles from home looking like this:

This is a great example that a single day can turn into a unique adventure if you’re willing to embrace it with your open mind and heart leading the way.

I’m proud to say that I live in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. It’s perfect outdoors country, but it has the benefit of having a big cultural, progressive city driving its personality. I’ve heard it described as a hidden gem in the Midwest and I agree. Last weekend was the state’s opening fishing season which signals the beginning of summer for many of us winter people.

So I woke up early and carried my fishing rods to the door I met my father on the road and we drove west across the landscape of Land of 10,000 lakes...

We were on our way to meet more friends for the journey. I’m lucky to still have the same group of hunting and fishing friends that I’ve had since childhood. Minnesota is full of these life-long relationships. It’s a quality that defines us. There’s a real bond here that keeps us together. With this group of Outdoors friends, even though we have all matured to pursue different paths in life, our love for adventures keeps us together. We’re still relatively young men, although some of us have gotten married and had kids through the years, but we’ll probably die smiling and catching fish together several times a year.

So last weekend, We drove north to our lake cabin and put the boat in the water. My father drove off with the trailer, and it was my job to drive the boat across the lake to our cabin on the other side with just our conversation and journey to catch fish to entertain us.

As I drove past the no wake zone in the boat, it was peaceful to be alone on the water and look around and admire this tiny spec of earth which seems so large when viewed from the human eye. The sky was blue, warm, and I sped up to be a boat flying across a beautiful lake. I felt free. There was no pressure. No societal norms. It was just me and God on the water. Searching, seeking, dreaming and talking –

Just following what I love to do. Enjoying all the opportunities and experiences that come my way. Always trying to make the best decisions that will propel me toward my purpose of life. Such an outlook has made me a simpler, but more complex man at the same time. It’s been a very fun combination of psyche to evolve into. I love myself. There is no better way to live.

Ultimately, I am happier than I used to be when I was trying to be what everyone wanted me to be.

I gave up trying to live the perfect plan that society had given me at birth a long time ago. School+Career+Family+House Payment+then retirement= does not always equal a perfect life. For some of us, finding who we and how we best share our talents with the w download (1) orld is the most essential factor to getting this equation to balance properly. In my life, the equation should be re-written to: My ability+my talent+God’s direction = adventure and the happiness I seek.

I have been freed. Now I just try to live the adventure I’ve been given, and explore life like it’s a river and I’m on a raft every day. There’s so much to see, and so many mysteries to explore. Sure I want success, but that will come if I follow God and live like this, and success can take many different forms.

And just like fishing, if you’re lucky you might catch something on the way that will exceed your wildest dreams.

Here are some other quality articles on the subject of how to find yourself:

How to Find Yourself: The Purpose of Life Equation