Finding your purpose late in life

It's truly never too late to discover and live your life's purpose.

Growing up, we'd hear things like "what do you want to be when you grow up" or the more Nigerian version "you're going to be a doctor when you grow up." More often than not, these questions/assertions put pressure on us and drive us to our purpose or far away from it and on very few occasions, some where in between. We’re expected to figure out what we want to do for the rest of our lives by the time we graduate secondary school.

As a child, I wanted to be a lot of things. Actor, lawyer, teacher, newscaster, beautician, doctor.... Whew!


Most of us are afraid to take that little peak inside to see what we really want. After thirty, it's time to listen to one's heart, not one's mom or boss or spouse or what we think the rest of the world wants.


Finding purpose sounds so easy yet it's a difficult search that could take years to find. If you've found your purpose and are already walking in it, good for you! Awesome!! If you however are still trying to figure out what you're truly meant to be doing, here are a few things to try.

- Explore the Things You Love To Do & What Comes Easy to You. Our purpose usually lies in the things that come easy to us and the things we love doing.

-Create a Life Purpose Statement. What do you want to be remembered for? What do you want the essence of your life to be? Or, create a vision board.

-Think About The Times You’ve Experienced the Greatest Joy In Your Life. What made you feel that way?

-Reach out to people and ask what reminds them of you or what they think of when you enter their mind.

-Consider Injustices That Bother You. Is there anything to you that makes you so deeply unhappy to think about that it bothers you to the core?

- Finally, talk to God. Who better to tell you why you were created than the one who created you?


Side note: Get you a mentor. Whether you've found a purpose or not, get yourself a mentor. If you've found your purpose, get a mentor in your field. If you haven't found your purpose, work with mentors to help guide, nurture and direct you.


The reality is that a good number of us are already fully on our paths, we just don’t recognize it. Your life purpose is always yours, and once you identify it, you can pursue goals and desires from a place of alignment with who you are and what you’re here for, not from what others tell you or from what you think you should do.


Discovering one’s purpose in life essentially boils down to finding those one or two things that are bigger than yourself, and bigger than those around you. It’s not about some great achievement, but merely finding a way to spend your limited amount of time well.


Here's to fulfilling purpose 🍻