Day 44*: My Mission
20 minutes into sharing his long term goal he asked me about my mission in life.
Immediately I thought about how I’ve always wanted to help adolescents deal with mental health. Not in a clinical therapist type way but more of a “look, I’ve been through the depths of hell with my thoughts, and I know how to predict when a spiral is coming on and how to work through it.”
I also thought about how much I love working with women by showing how much they hold themselves back from fulfillment by being caught up in “obligations”.
I didn’t share either with him.
He’d proven over the course of our work together that despite the thousands of hours he’d spent reading about being a leader and how to treat people, he would never grasp the teachings. In one ear, out the other. Months after our contract ended a mutual acquaintance assuredly said he was a narcissist and it all made so much sense. Til then I’d never worked with one before but I have studied the personality disorder. And he was text book.
Anywho, I didn’t share with him because he would either tie it to the role I had with him, or weaponize it in group conversation later to put me in a vulnerable spot. Both things I’d seen him do with other people.
The question sat dormant in my subconscious for a while.
“What is my life mission?”
Later I was driving a few hours away to meet a couple girlfriends for a weekend retreat. While I listened to a podcast about ADHD the topic of life missions came up. I paused the podcast and made myself drive in silence. I knew I had to come up with it. That IT wouldn’t just create itself. After a while I formulated something along the lines of: “I want to inspire independent thought which will encourage people to use their God given gifts, making the world a better place.”.
This mission ties in both of the subsets of humans that I want to help.
It feels like so many people are sleep walking through life.
Before the information age we were trained through societal norms on how to follow the herd. Stay in line and don’t stray from the group. Go to college, find a partner of the opposite sex, date, get engaged, get married, buy a house, have kids and continue contributing to the economy by growing your salary and expenses. Until your kids are able to do the same.
Not following the herd was fodder for all the gossipers.
If neighbors on the street didn’t have kids it was believed that they weren’t physically able. No one would ever choose not to have children!
Should a couple get divorced, they didn’t try hard enough to save their marriage. Most likely, she should have looked the other way. Sex doesn’t hold the same meaning for men as it does women. Or maybe if she was just a little bit better, he wouldn’t have mistreated her. Regardless: she should have done everything in her power to keep him in the marriage.
Everyone had an opinion they were quick to share.
Conformity through shame from the normies.
With the arrival of the internet, and later social media, people had easier access to see how others lived. People were no longer being spoon fed only what the movies/TV/news, religious and political leaders shared and wanted everyone to believe.
The ability to see so much diversity opened peoples eyes and there was some progress towards individuality. The expansiveness of all types of people, and also proof that older generations were winging it too, lessened the belief that being a part of the herd was the safest bet.
Now we are in the Algorithm and AI age which surely freaks me out.
Sure, surface level I love that every time I pop into Instagram there’s new monkey and chihuahua videos for me. And AI has helped me with formatting my thoughts on more occasions than one.
But as someone with addiction tendencies I approach both the algorithm and AI with reverence.
Are other people thinking about this before giving over their precious time and energy?
About how their minds are being shaped and molded based on what is being consumed?
Accessibility, ease and conserving energy is great but at what expense? Are people going to be even more brainwashed into blindly following whatever is being shown to them that “is the way”?
I want people to think. For themselves. To look at and challenge their thoughts and where they came from. I want them to shirk the status quo.
Obvs not everyone, that would be chaos. But the ones who know that they’re meant for more.
I want them to see the anomalies and outliers and recognize that they too have brilliance and gifts within them. I want them to recognize that the existence they are living today may have been caused by thoughts implanted at a young age or impressionable time.
And that they can break free from limiting thoughts that have hindered their individuality.
No more sleep walking. Waking up to who they are meant to be. It’s the quickest way to a fulfilling life.
I offer 1:1 mentorship to help with this self-actualization transformation. If what you’re reading has resonated, check out my package and book a 20 minute call so we can see if we are a fit. I’d love to be a part of your journey.
