Purpose Vs. Impact

The other night, I was reading a book & at the end of one of the chapters, the author asked “so do you understand what your duties & responsibilities are as a black woman?” Which I translated into him basically asking if I know what my purpose is. So it got me thinking more about purpose - not just as a black woman, but as a person, in general. I did used to think that we all had this crazy, important job to do on earth & that once we figured out what that was, we were walking in our purpose. Over the past few years though, I’ve changed my thoughts on that & decided that just existing is enough. I think that a lot of people are unfulfilled & stressed because you’re getting life purpose confused with impact. You want to know WHY you’re here? In a nutshell, you’re here because your soul was called to come here. You were intricately created in order to simply exist. That’s your purpose (although that interpretation is subjective), but it doesn’t seem to satisfy you because you feel like you were meant to do something more than just exist (and if you didn’t do something more, your life would still be just as meaningful). You feel like you were sent here to make an impact right? But impact isn’t always synonymous with purpose. If you’re looking to be fulfilled by using your strengths, talents, & wisdom to positively affect others, then you need to be asking yourself “how can I make an impact?” as opposed to “what is my life purpose?” And the answer as to how you can make an impact is right in front of your face.. identify what those strengths & talents are. Continue to be a student so you can continue to gain wisdom & give yourself plenty of time for introspection in order to become more aware of the wisdom. Take all of that & brainstorm how you can use those qualities to impact others. You probably already know what it is because it’s also something that you’re passionate about. Once you can identify exactly you can make an impact, that’s your green light. It’s simple. You don’t have to stress over finding your life purpose when you’re fulfilling that purpose by waking up each day. & if you must do something that involves helping others or changing the world, ask yourself “how can I make an impact?”