Assess your life's purpose

A major source of stress in society today comes from sources that when broken down in more detail do not deserve the importance attached to them. Stress is also caused by the feeling that you are not living a life of meaning or there is no purpose to what you do - combined with the fact that you do nothing to change this.

Look at society today, how complicated and meaningless it has become for many - focus on making money, getting to top of career for nothing more than to say you were the boss, becoming fit just to look good and better than the rest of society....truly meaningless in that you have added nothing to the human race and when you are dead what good is your money, your fitness or your career. Now I'm not saying there isn't good in these things; you need to make money for your family, achieve in your career for personal growth and be fit/take care of yourself to ensure a healthy life. However we need to truly assess what the purpose is of each thing we do and make it count.

How many of us live a life of excess and consider the less fortunate simply a topic of conversation. That the phrase 'social enterprise' sounds great but that is it. Could you honestly assess any meaningful contribution you have made to society in the past year, three years, 10 years? Do you accept life for what it is and focus solely on yourself? It is obvious we as a race are looking for more - online dating trying to find the perfect solemate, online personalities and avatars to live a life you dream of but do not have in person. The fact it is becoming 'fashionable' to give your time to charities through social enterprise activities. The evidence is there that our society wishes for a more meaningful and exciting existence but struggle to live it in the real world.

My advice is take a look at your life and look beyond the next promotion, pay rise etc and consider one thing you can do for someone else or for society's benefit. From a psychological stand point personal growth and development is one of the underlying needs of humans, though many of us do not openly recognize it as such, therefore by undertaking deeds to benefit others you will also benefit yourself and add some real purpose to your existence.