Your Life's Purpose

Typically, this time of the morning you'd find me in the deck swing with my second cup of coffee, dogs at my feet, watching patterns on the lake morph as the sun crests the eastern horizon. Not today. Today, there's quite the beast of a storm reaching from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Davenport, Iowa, and so the dogs and I are finishing my second cup of coffee in the air conditioning with a TED talk. This morning's subject: finding your life's purpose in 5 easy steps, with Adam Leipzig. I've been trying to figure out that little puzzle for 72 years, so this should be good.

Adam suggests that I ask myself the following questions:

1. Who am I?

2. What do I (love) to do?

3. Who do I do it for?

4. What do those people want and need?

5. How can they change as a result?

Before the Magic 8 Ball reveals all, let me say that my answers to these questions are vastly different today than they would have been in my 20s, and so I thought I'd conduct a little interview with my younger selves.

Age 20

1. Who am I? Donna May Hanson

2. What do I (love) to do? I love to ice skate, but there's no money in that, so I work in a data center for a large manufacturing company in Dallas.

3. Who do I do it for? I ice skate for myself. I work so I can eat, pay for college, and ice skate.

4. What do those people want and need? I'm rather solitary, so other than performing well at work, I don't think anybody needs or wants anything from me.

5. How can they change as a result? I haven't a clue.

Age 40-50

1. Who am I? Donna May Hanson

2. What do I (love) to do? I love to fly, and sail, and take my kids on adventures, but that doesn't pay the bills. I'm a project manager and software engineer for a big company. I like the job and my coworkers, and find the work intellectually satisfying.

3. Who do I do it for? Myself, my kids...and we have to eat, so I try to be a good team member at work.

4. What do those people want and need? Love, respect, compassion, and an environment where they can flourish. That applies across the board, I think.

5. How can they change as a result? Hopefully, my kids grow into strong, responsible adults. My coworkers/the company? That's a good question. My hope is that I leave my position stronger than I found it, my staff and coworkers in a confident and secure position, and they know they have my thanks, respect, and affection.

Age 60-70

1. Who am I? Donna May Hanson

2. What do I (love) to do? I love to travel, to write, and to paint. And I volunteer as a crewmember on a retired military ship from time to time.

3. Who do I do it for? Myself. Well...that's a good question. I started this blog about 15 years ago because I had something to say. I wrote the book, "Heroes All" for much the same reason.

4. What do those people want and need? I think that as we age, we still need to have purpose; to contribute. Human beings need connection.

5. How can they change as a result? I change a little each time I write. Each time I paint or travel someplace new, or serve with my crewmembers on the ship. I think that is true for all of us, and so I share my thoughts and my art in the hope that it gives the reader permission to share their thoughts, their gifts, and their time as well.

That was an interesting exercise. As I wrote, it occurred to me that our "life's purpose" isn't a single entity; it's a snapshot in time. There's still a big part of who I was at 20 swirling around in here, but she's more part of a "team" of Donnas: the adventurer, the mother, the team member/spouse, and the storyteller. The storyteller...funny how that just sort of typed itself.

If Adam were here, I'd share thanks for this exercise, but I don't believe we have a single purpose in life other than to participate and understand that, as we age, how we participate changes. Sort of like the weather. Speaking of, it's starting to rain, and so I'll close for now so as not to miss a moment. I do love rain.