I recently listened to a podcast where Jay Shetty (author, entrepreneur and former monk) gave advice on how to find your purpose. I’ve heard dozens of opinions on this but his resonated with me because it was simple, and I LOVE simple.
This isn’t verbatim because I can’t remember exactly how he worded it, but here’s the essence:
Find the thing that makes you happy, and use it to make others happy.
You might think, I’ve heard that before, it’s do what makes you happy! But there’s a subtle difference, it’s doing that same thing to make others happy.
Many beliefs and many wise people have said happiness can be found in helping others. If you’ve ever felt that kind of pleasure you’ll understand.
So let’s say tinkering around in your garden is where you’re most happy. Is becoming a gardener the way to go? If you want. Or how about these ideas:
Starting meetups for people to discover the benefits of being in nature, finding their own calm, socialise, make like-minded friends.
Forest-bathing sessions!
Learn some horticultural skills and teach them to others.
Write about the aspects of being in nature that bring you joy, start a blog or social media account, give tips and advice to help others find that same joy.
Grow and sell those same plants that you love looking after and watching flourish, show your customers how they can look after them too.
The underlying theme is spreading your positive feeling, happiness, hope, calm etc.
All of the above could easily grow into a business with a little thought. You’ll be doing something that makes you happy and sharing that with others to increase their happiness. Win win!
I do have an alternative if this doesn’t work for you. It’s on the other side of the coin…
Identify your biggest struggle in life, and help others heal from it.
Maybe you’ve battled with depression, an eating disorder, low self-worth. You don’t need to be fully healed yourself to start helping others in the same situation. The act of helping others will naturally help you. You’d be better placed than most having been there yourself.