Have you ever sat in front of a window, sighed deeply, and thought about the purpose of your life? No one can deny that at one point or another, everyone has pondered over their existence and what purpose it might have. But apparently, there is such a thing as too much pondering, to the point where it can start giving a person anxiety.
As per experts and studies, there is even a term for this, called “purpose anxiety,” where a person’s thoughts of their life’s purpose, and if unable to discover it, reach such heights that it starts to give them anxiety.
What Is Purpose Anxiety?
The phrase “Find your purpose” has been featured in many social media posts and motivational posters, as people continue to search for an answer to this question. But as per experts, when a person is unable to do so, then the message becomes more of a burden rather than something that inspires.
This distressing condition is called purpose anxiety, which describes the inner turmoil of knowing you should have a purpose, but feeling lost in the search. The term was first created by University of Pennsylvania graduate student, Larissa Rainey, in 2014 in a paper on the same topic.
In her paper, she talked about this condition of ‘purpose anxiety’ that, as per Psychology Today, affects 91% of people at some point or another in their lives.
Rainey, in her paper, wrote, “Purpose anxiety can provisionally be defined as the negative emotions experienced in direct relation to the search for purpose.”
According to the report, “Purpose anxiety is the stress, insecurity, fatigue, and frustration that arise from trying to define and achieve one’s life purpose.”
Michael Steger, a professor at Colorado State University and director of its Centre for Meaning and Purpose, also commented on this, saying, “There’s a lot of commands to find purpose, but not a lot of support to find purpose.”
While there is certainly nothing wrong with wondering about one’s purpose, with experts also expressing how it can positively help a person, overthinking it to the point of anxiety can be a cause of concern.
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Todd Kashdan, a professor at George Mason University and founder of its Well-Being Laboratory, said that trying to find a purpose can help a person to “close that gap between who you are and what you ideally want to become,” and channel their energy toward a singular goal.
Research also shows that people who believe they’ve found their purpose can be physically and mentally healthier. But somewhere, the quest for finding a purpose itself takes over a person’s life to a negative extent, especially if people are unable to find clear guideposts.
With the changing society and mindsets of people, as per reports, people are now able to find more time to spend, wondering what their purpose is.
The anxiety can thus come either from having clear guidance to find it or not wanting to fit into societal expectations of what the purpose of a person should be.
Some symptoms of having purpose anxiety can include:
- Constantly changing jobs in search of that ‘perfect’ workplace
- Imposter syndrome, where one feels as if they are just pretending to be good at something and don’t deserve that success
- Comparing yourself to others, especially in today’s digital age, through social media platforms, and feeling like a failure if one hasn’t found their purpose in the face of so many others having found theirs
- Worried about never finding one’s true purpose, to the point that it overtakes all other thoughts
Earlier, there used to be clear goal posts, religion, life moments, and societal roles that were disguised as being a person’s true purpose. Women were told that their purpose was to be a mother and wife, and handle the house, and men had their purpose being that of a breadwinner for the family.
As society evolves and progresses, these roles are being shifted or rejected entirely, with people wanting to have the choice to find their own purpose, beyond these traditional ones.
However, with the goalposts changing comes the uncertainty and doubt about one’s life and what really can be their purpose if it’s not one that was accepted for so long.
Jody Day, a psychotherapist and author of ‘Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future without Children,’ agrees with this, stating in a report that “Part of what it is to have a human consciousness is to think about our place in the universe. But a lot of the places that we’ve naturally found meaning in our culture in, say, the last hundred years, are falling away.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Firstpost, The Independent, AP News
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This post is tagged under: Anxiety, purpose anxiety, purpose anxiety meaning, purpose anxiety reasons, humans, human anxiety, existential crisis, life’s purpose, life meaning, life purpose anxiety
Disclaimer: We do not hold any rights or copyright over any of the images used; these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly email us.
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