Have you lost your sense of meaning and purpose?

Photo by Eunice Lituañas

I realised that I had dipped into a feeling of hopelessness a couple of weeks ago. My days had a meaningless cycle of get up, work online, eat too much, watch TV and go to bed. This feeling had crept up on me and I’m only just starting to shake it off.

How do you shake off such feelings?

The key is to reconnect with meaning and to increase your sense of purpose. Start small and stay aware of your internal state. My first step may sound a little trivial on the surface. Every year under normal conditions I go over the top decorating my house for Christmas. A few weeks ago I had said to myself “why bother?”

This was a sign and I knew I needed to do something.

Over the weekend I decided to reconnect with my joy and fun. I have decorated one room and put one tree up. (I normally put up multiple trees). This one room makes me smile and I am starting to feel better. I think I will do more this weekend. The meaning of putting up decorations for me is to feel an inner sense of fun even if I can’t share with family and friends as normal.

What do you need to do to stay connected to some sense of meaning?