The best time to realize one's purpose is when active frustration takes hold of an individual because they are not able to find a satisfying answer to "What is my purpose?"

Some individuals accept the purpose assigned to them by society, and rarely find answering this question frustrating, but for those that have fought bouts of depression and anxiety over figuring out the answer to "What is my purpose?" resigning to a quick answer is much more difficult than desired.

Typically, it is not very difficult to answer the question: "my family is my purpose"; "God and my faith give me purpose"; "my business"; "my volunteer work"; "my art"; and the list goes on. It's isn't a difficult question to answer, but it is very difficult to find a satisfying answer that leaves you fulfilled.

But there is a way to find an answer that keeps you content.

It takes some recognition that this question can’t be answered as directly as you might desire. It’s difficult to simply deposit an individual answer to the heady premise of one's overall purpose.

Instead, you will have to pin-point moments in their life to figure it out.

In order to discover our own passions, we must work backwards and unfold the milestones achieved throughout our life. Finding commonality in our behavior allows us to unearth roots that stick together, shaping something singular to your existence.

“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.”

-Charles Bukowski

What’s your fire? What have you suffered for in your life that helps you define your milestones? What are you willing to do over and over again, despite disappointment, negative feelings, and pain? Make a list, check it twice, because these things are likely what define your purpose and keep your mind excited.

Love writing blogs despite only 8 people ever reading them? Or raising children and loving them even when they’re little devils? Waking up early for that long run because you can’t give up? Holding out for that incredible job because you know it’s worth it?

All these fires burn hard, how well will you walk through them — or will you choose to avoid them altogether? If you choose not to struggle for something, chances are that thing isn't your passion.

And so, I encourage you think upon this, meditate, and acknowledge the milestones that you’ve fought for to pin-point your own purpose, because understanding that can help you find a happiness in the decisions you make in the future.

Remember, one's purpose does not have to be saving the world (it can be), we are not messiahs, we are people of routine, with jobs, families to raise, and hobbies to accomplish, among all those things we can find our purpose.

It’s not just a matter of figuring out your purpose for the sake of figuring it out but allowing the answer to drive your decisions in order to find peace and fulfillment despite the challenges life brings us all.

Remember most importantly, that we all contribute to life, to society, and to our individual selves. Your purpose may not be singular, but many, choose one to continue to drive you forward every single day.

“We consider the bibles and religions divine...I do not say they are not divine,
I say they have all grown out of you and may grow out of you still,
It is not they who give the life...it is you who give the life;
Leaves are not more shed from the trees or trees from the earth than they are shed out of you.”

-Walt Whitman