Find Your Purpose

Everyone needs to feel valued and know they have a purpose in life. It is essential for recovery and living a life with mental illness to know you have a purpose. Having purpose is a balance between what you give to the world and what you take from the world.

I believe helping others is the essential component of what makes me who I am. It completes me and makes me whole. Without it, I am lost.

Since this is such a key ingredient in the make-up of my well-being and who I am, I feel like it would apply to everyone, as well. I am not sure this is true because I do not live inside others. Helping others gives me a beautiful and strong purpose and brings me joy. Because this helps me, I want to share this with you so you too can experience this type of joy and satisfaction in life. My life has value when I know I can make a difference in the lives of others.

If you are not helping others, maybe it is the missing component in you life. If you are in the midst of a depression or struggling with other issues and illness, try volunteering or finding a little part-time job that gives you the opportunity to help others.

There is no greater joy than seeing the joy you give to someone else just from loving them and giving your time to them. It is the best thing we can do in this lifetime. We are doing what Jesus would do.

Helping others will give you a reason to wake up. A reason to get out of bed when you don’t want to or don’t feel like you can do it for yourself.  You know that someone else needs you. Helping others will give you a purpose. If you do not feel like you have a purpose or if you need a more rewarding purpose, start helping others in any capacity you can.

I guarantee you that if you want to feel valued, help someone who needs help and/or is less fortunate than you. Be that one person in someone’s life that makes their day and makes a difference in their lives. This can be as simple as a smile, sharing a compliment and making others feel good, special, valued and like they have a purpose. Become the reason others have a purpose in their lives. Enhance someone’s life in any way you can. When you enhance someone’s life, your life will improve, shine, glitter and sparkle exponentially.

When I used to teach special education and people asked me what I did for work,  most people said, “You must be a special person.” That always floored me because I never felt special and I honestly was not and am not special. I was just being me. I was behaving in the way God made me. I was doing what Jesus would do. I did what I did because it was me. I did what I had to do. I did what I needed to do for my own survival and satisfaction. I was doing what made me happy. That does not make me special. It makes me human and alive.

I feel like I am selfish, because I get so much more in return than I ever give out. I help others because essentially they help me even more than I ever help them. My students gave me so much more back. I got paid to give love. Love is life. I went to work every day to give love and got paid for it.

When my bipolar symptoms became too severe, I lost a lot. Eventually I lost my teaching career. I could not teach special needs students anymore. A large part of who I was, was taken away from me. It was stolen. I was lost and came undone.

I have been on Social Security Disability for years. The best thing I ever did for my recovery and for myself was start working again. I have worked at many different part-time jobs off and on through the many years of my recovery. I have been trying to find the right fit for me.

I have worked as a childcare teacher, telemarketer, insurance clerk, clerk at a gas station (my favorite part was making pizzas), sales associate at Hobby Lobby and Michaels, YMCA childcare, Kohl’s as a jewelry associate and home health care. The greatest satisfaction I got was when I helped people.

I got a job at a bank recently, even though I was still quite sick from my withdrawals from Klonopin. I tried it, but it did not work out as I was too ill. I was still having visual impairments and felt like I was walking on legs made out of feathers. Even thinking about working there frightens me as it is not the type of work that gives me any satisfaction. It paid two times as much money as home health care, but I know doing work that is not satisfying for me, is counterproductive for my mental health and well-being. Home health care is what I need to do.

I am very happy to share that I am healthy enough to work again. I started working at a job I love on Friday. I am a home health care provider working 25 hours a week, as that is all SSDI will allow for income. Plus, to be honest those are probably plenty of hours for me to work so I can maintain my optimal mental health.

On Friday, I worked with a gentleman who is 95 years young and has Alzheimers. He is a joy and a blessing. I get to give him love and make the rest of his life as positive and enjoyable as possible. What a gift that is.

I am not saying that everyone needs to work at a job helping others because that would not make any sense. We need all kinds of people to do all kinds of different work. Everyone is made up differently for many reasons. It is what makes the world go round.

We are all needed and valuable. There is not one job that is more important than another, except being a mother or father. Other than being a parent, there are no other workers or jobs that are more special than another.

I cannot work at retail or in a bank, for example. Actually, I can do it, but I do not like it. It is not for me. We need people that can do that kind of work and all different types of work. I think people who do those kind of jobs are very special people. If you can do anything other what I can do, I think you are very special. We are all special. We are all unique and made up differently for a reason.

Don’t forget all of us that write and are bloggers are helping each other. Maybe writing is the way you are helping others. That is why writing, especially in this blogging community, is incredibly therapeutic for many people. Writing has helped me greatly in many ways. It has, literally, recently saved my life.

Remember we all need to have a purpose. Having purpose is a balance between what you give to the world and what you take from the world. It is essential that you find your purpose. What is your purpose?

If you have read this far and made it to the end of my many words, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are simply amazing. You are fabulous beyond words and measure. Thank you.

May your cup of life overflow with blessings today and everyday.

Much love and hugs, Sue

Copyright © 2018 by Susan Walz | myloudbipolarwhispers.com | All Rights Reserved.

 

 

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