Resilience - Yes

Counselling and psychotherapy in soho and St. Paul’s, Central London

Living a life with purpose

In a world that often glorifies five-year plans, neatly mapped-out careers, and ticking off boxes on the ‘success’ checklist, the idea of living a purposeful life can get lost in translation.

Purpose, contrary to popular belief, is not the same as having everything planned out. It’s not about rigid schedules or knowing exactly what your life will look like in ten years. It’s about something deeper, something more human.

Living with purpose means having a sense of direction that’s rooted in your own values. It’s less about control and more about alignment. It’s about waking up each day with a quiet inner compass guiding you, not necessarily to a fixed destination, but along a path that feels right, honest, and true to who you are.

Plans vs purpose
Plans can be useful. They can give us a framework, help us prioritise, and keep us moving. But when plans become inflexible, they can quickly become prisons. Life, as we all know, rarely sticks to the script. Careers change, relationships shift, our sense of self evolves. A plan that doesn’t adapt with us risks becoming irrelevant or even harmful. Purpose, on the other hand, is not shaken so easily. It lives in the ‘why’ behind what we do. It grows as we grow, and it bends without breaking. When we live with purpose, we’re not as concerned with whether we’re ahead or behind. Instead, we focus on whether we’re on the path that reflects our values, passions, and integrity.

The power of direction
Think of purpose like the North Star. It’s not a point you reach, but a light you follow. Having direction gives us something that plans often miss: resilience. When things don’t go to plan, as they inevitably won’t, a purposeful direction helps us re-centre and reorient ourselves. It gives meaning to the detours and setbacks. It allows us to trust that even if we’re not where we thought we’d be, we’re still somewhere worth being. Direction gives us permission to take steps that honour our own rhythm. It reminds us that we are allowed to change our minds, take risks, and learn as we go. It’s a much kinder way to walk through life.

Embracing your own path
No one else can define what your purpose is. It’s not something you pick from a list; it’s something you feel, uncover gradually, by paying attention to what matters to you, what moves you, frustrates you, excites you, and grounds you. Your purpose might not come with a job title or a five-year projection. It might look more like a set of guiding principles: generosity, creativity, curiosity, honesty. The beauty of living with purpose is that it invites us to walk our own path in this remarkable world. It invites us to make choices that reflect who we truly are, rather than who we think we’re supposed to be. And it invites us to show up fully, even when the road ahead is unclear. So, instead of asking “What’s the plan?”, perhaps a better question is: “What direction feels right to me now?” Let that be your compass. Because in the end, a life lived with purpose, even if unplanned, is a life well lived.


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