Live Before Later: Finding Purpose

What is “purpose”? Sometimes I feel like I have one, and sometimes I feel like everything is meant to be what it is. There are days I want to save the world, and some days I'd rather die along with everyone else in it. I realized something, though, it all depends on purpose. Most people in prison would tell you “purpose” isn’t real. That we’re meant to live each day and wait for the day we die.

People who live on the surface–surface thinkers, surface livers, would agree–purpose isn’t real, either. Their favorite follow-up statement is “no one cares if you’re dead.”

Purpose comes down to what we do every day—living. When we wake up in the morning and share all the things we’re grateful for, whose purpose is that serving?

Ours.

If you have gratitude, you have purpose.

A lot of people think having purpose is supposed to be this grandiose championship plaque, in other words, something to brag on. It doesn’t have to be something the world has to know. It just has to be something that makes you want to live every day.

These days, a lot of pressure from the economy to enjoy the little bits of life seems to take more distance, money, time, and effort to obtain. Including the daily ins and outs of life, who has the time to think about their purpose? The most important things are always in front of us, and sometimes, like faith, we can’t always see it, we have to believe it.

Having purpose is like planting a flower. When you’re gardening, you need all the tools:

hand trowel

gloves

pruners

watering can/hose

Same as finding a purpose, what are the things or people that help you grow?

Make a list, and it doesn’t have to be long.

Seriously, get a pen and paper.

Open your notes app on your phone.

Now, seriously!

I’ll do it along with you.

You better be writing, yo.

Anyways,

Furthering my education

writing and reading

Working out (any physical movement honestly)

New experiences (small and big)

Ours may be completely different, and that’s okay.

After we collect the things we need to plant that flower, this is the fun part, we get to decide what flower we want to watch and grow, and just like the flower, YOU can decide what you want your purpose to look like–not what your friends decide, Instagram, your parents, homies and homegirls, or relationship. You decide.

Is it for you? Do you want people to remember your name when you’re gone?

Is it for your children? Do you want to leave a legacy behind?

Is it for your community? Do you want to change something?

A lot of people say, “I want to be rich. I want to make a lot of money. I want to shop, buy nice things, and be able to chill.” You must really be good with manifestation, or you’re a reptile.

Even then, that comes with work, and purpose without work is the living dead.

This is how we become monotonous and sucked into the surface level of things like indulging deeply in celebrity gossip, who did what crime, who's failing in life, and celebrating Cinco De Mayo.

I’m not saying you can’t be rich or that it’s impossible to have a seven-car garage, but to get it, the purpose must be in pursuit. You can’t want something because you want it. If that were true, we all would be rich and customizing Range Rovers.

Just like flowers, purposes can die. You forget to water your flower, and it dies. Same as purpose. When we forget or neglect our purpose, we’re neglecting ourselves, devaluing ourselves, accepting less, and causing stress. Let's face it, we all deserve more, but who's going to put in the work to achieve it? The one with purpose. The one with purpose can't fail, refuse to fail, and is willing to get back up ten times to fall another twenty to win on the eleventh.

When we lose the little things that help us grow, we become stagnant, unsatisfied, bored, and lazy.

What’s something you haven’t done in a while that is attributed to your happiness?

Let’s go a step further. What was your purpose then? Who were you doing it for and why?

When you find your purpose again, write it down and put it where you can see it every day. Treat it like a baby, watch it grow. It’s easy to lose base, but hold yourself accountable and try again. We have time to get it right.

Purpose does not have to be all about you or me. It can be about community, too. One of the main things we grew up on, but somehow got lost. Our ancestors lived through community. What do you think their purpose was? When we shift to something other than ourselves, we don’t realize how much that does for us within. We bloom just as we try to water our peers, community, friends, relationships, and family.

Your purpose isn’t a math quiz, and it’s not a society that accepts applications. What do you have to offer that would change, enlighten, inspire, help, guide, or create the world, our people? Hell, I support black villains, too! What do you have that will have people in an uproar? UPSET THE SYSTEM.

We all have a purpose, believe it or not. We don’t just perish after life. Living must continue, and especially now when we can breathe, feel, speak, touch, and BE for FREE (right now). Work for your fruits, and don’t just work, baby, make it look good, and to make it look good, remind yourself of that purpose.

The lie is that we live every day and then die, but the truth is, we’re already dead if we’re not living.

If you liked this article, please leave your thoughts and share. Nationwide, the number of Black Americans reading daily is a fraction of the total population, with approximately 12% of all daily readers identified as black. Upset the system, let's raise the percentage by sharing this article today.

Love, be blessed,

Queen.