What Is Your Why?

When you’re driven by a purpose, how doesn’t matter as much.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

The Secondhand Inspiration Project begins with a motivational quote and ventures wherever the creative path meanders.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Think of the times when you bounced back from what felt like the stiffest challenge you ever faced.

Pulling an all-nighter to get a school project turned in on time. Confronting a menacing bully after class. Escaping an abusive relationship. Working a double shift to have enough money for rent. Coping with a messy breakup or divorce. Recovering from an injury or illness. Surviving a combat tour in a foreign land.

All of these and more are challenges people face. Oftentimes they juggle several at once. Yet most recover to fight another day.

It’s not always pretty or painless, but people find ways to move past their mountains. They recognize the obstacles but look for a means to climb over, dance around, tunnel under, or smash through them to get to the other side intact.

You do this, too.

What fuels your inherent resilience? How do you skirt around the suffering portion of the human condition? What fuels your optimism that things will eventually get better?

When hope is dim, most people rely on the gleam of their purpose to provide illumination. Its shine helps them see the route they need to take.

A person with clarity who has discovered their purpose can overcome nearly any problem in their path. If you understand why your life is valuable and what you are intended to do with it, you can overcome stacked odds without surrendering or collapsing.

Photo by sunnie on Unsplash

For some people, it is a life partner or a kid that lights their way through the dark times. For others, it’s their spiritual beliefs or religion. That purpose could also be an idea for a startup, a love of a sport or hobby, or the prototype of an invention they’ve been obsessively building in their garage.