Our Purpose In Life by Farida Ibrahim

Individually, we all have reasons for waking up everyday. Some wake early and others, much later. Our purpose in life is the pivot around which our lives revolve. It consists of our aims, values, determination and goals in life. Every human being has his or her own reasons for which he exists.

In the phase of religion, our Creator obliged us to a specific purpose of which He created us. No submissive servant refutes it. According to what Allah says in the Qur'an, Our Creator made clear to us our purpose when He said "And I did not create the jinns and humans except to worship Me......." This verse can be found in (Q51:56). This clearly states the main purpose of our creation and existence in this life.

That is the purpose of our lives in the light of religion. Now let us dive into the individual purposes that we have set, wished, and destined for ourselves.

Just as we have a purpose for being in this world, so as we have individually a purpose in our lives. Now, ask yourself why you wake up very early in the morning even when you didn't sleep early. Why do you sacrifice your sleep to get up for school or work? Could it be that you just stress yourself each day for nothing? No, rather you have a reason that you are inclining towards. A dog wouldn't enter into dark and  deadly corners if there was no food that might have attracted it with its aroma.

Many among a hundred think that our purposes are just our careers but that is a clear error. Your career is just a fraction of your purpose. Every action and moment could connect you to your purpose. Some of these moments and actions are;

 •Your relationships; i.e family, friends, partners etc.

•Your love life, a life you have wished to live with your partner.

•Your financial opportunities. 

•Your opportunities with fun, connecting with joy and laughter.

These are just a few of the purposes. This tells you that your career is just a piece of your why.

Discovering your purpose could take you years. Consider these factors to help you discover your purpose:

• Curiosity: It can arise from curiosity about your own life and what obstacles you may have encountered. Consider the scenario where a boy grows up on the streets and usually indulges in drugs, robbery and the likes. And an opportunity arises where he realizes himself and gets an education. He may make it his purpose to become a rehabilitator to give rehabilitation services in order to curb his own past experiences.

• Through reading: By reading, you get to be inspired by people and their stories. Discovering your purpose through the words and advice of great personalities could help shape your life. 

• By turning hurts to healing for others: Sometimes, another person's pains could lead us to our purposes. Consider a scenario where by a girl is raped in a community. With this, another person gets inspired to dive deeper, understand the cause and find solutions to heal that pain of others.

• Listening to what other people appreciate about you: A person may not know what he is good at unless he considers what people say about him and prepare himself to make it a purpose.

• Find and build a community: We often find it in the people around us. Teachers, doctors, lecturers etc could inspire us as we find them in their services. We get to love a particular one and make it a purpose.

• Tell your story: Reading can help you find your purpose, as well as writing.

Write about yourself to feed the minds of people, shape their lives and save them from the mistakes and obstacles you might have encountered.

In nutshell, keep it in mind that your purpose does not only revolve around your career but it's just a piece of it. You have a religious purpose, financial purpose, relationship purpose and so many more to be mentioned.

I hope you have found value with this piece. Now get up, go out there and illuminate the planet.