Purpose Anxiety
3 April 2020 | BY ANDJELKA JANKOVIC | Life
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not.
All our lives have been simultaneously turned inside out. I hardly ever know what day of the week it is and now it’s April.
Most mornings I feel sprightly and hopeful, excited for the possibilities ahead. Then by late afternoon my energy drops and I feel deflated and a little lost. The sun was out and then the clouds came. I take this as a sign to get outside for a walk and fresh air or do some quick yoga stretches in my kitchen.
Like many of us, I’ve been itching to help and feeling useless that I am not a doctor, or nurse, or a journalist right now.
I’ve been wondering: what is my purpose in all of this?
I don’t want to create a Method, start a movement, or make a famous meme (although massive kudos to those people who make it look far too easy!). I just want to make meaning in this crisis.
The 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic went for two years and infected a third of the world’s population at the time. I don’t say this to be alarmist, I’m pointing to the perspective that this has happened before in human history and it’s worth mentioning that social distancing isn’t a new idea.
We are in a rebirth of our planet and this is a spiritual test for us all. I’m sure of it.
I was at a talk with Elizabeth Gilbert in Perth recently and she said a term that resonated right away: purpose anxiety. I nearly jumped out of the chair with my hand in the air like it was a question.