Mental Health Notes

Mental Health Month Day 23 - Get Off Your Couch and Find Your Purpose

by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes on May 23rd, 2007

Let’s cut right to the chase today, because today’s Mental Health Month tip is about cutting out the fat and getting to the meat. Today’s tip is to find a purpose for yourself.

As someone with both direct and indirect experience with depression and bipolar disorder, I understand how easy it is to lose interest in life - in your family and friends, in your surroundings, and even in yourself.

I know that it’s sometimes easier to lie around in the same sweatsuit you’ve had on for three days. Shoot, it’s not only easier - sometimes it just makes more sense. Maybe you’re on the couch watching Dr. Phil and wishing you had the energy to tackle that two-week old sink full of dishes. Maybe you’re on your bed staring out the window and wishing the sun would hurry up and set.

Why are you behaving this way? Well, if you’re being treated for a mental health condition such as depression it could be that your treatment isn’t handling 100% of your symptoms. If you’re not being treated, perhaps this little bout of depression you thought would pass is actually something more serious and long-lasting.

Of course, you should always talk with your mental health doctor about any prescribed medications you don’t think are working, and you should always seek the opinion of a mental health care professional if you suspect your normal case of the blues is something more.

But therapy and medications aside - what else are you doing to help treat yourself? How are you stepping forward to manage your depression?

If you haven’t done so already, you need to find a purpose.

Now, before we get carried away, I’m not suggesting you develop and write a well-researched, award-winning purpose statement for yourself. We’re not talking about life goals, here. We don’t even have to be talking about a five-year plan (unless that’s what you want). The kind of purpose we’re talking about is one that’s going to get you out of bed in the morning, showered, dressed, and engaging in an activity you enjoy and feel good about doing.

In a perfect world, that would be the description of your job, right?! Unfortunately, not everyone has a job like that; however, it doesn’t mean you can’t find purpose in your job. If you start thinking of your job as a time when you provide a service to people who depend on you, you’ll find purpose. It doesn’t matter if you’re a high-powered lawyer or a bag boy at your local Piggly Wiggly. Someone, somewhere, is depending on you to do your job. There you’ll find purpose.

If you can’t work due to medical reasons, or you just don’t work because you’re filthy rich (lucky you), you can still find purpose in your life. Work isn’t everything, after all. Consider volunteering at your local animal shelter, or further developing your skills at a hobby such as photography. You may even find a contest to enter and win - you never know.

Of course, your purpose doesn’t have to be something you do day in and day out. You might have a different purpose every couple of days or so. For example, your purpose for today may be to finally clean out your closet, drawers, attic - whatever - and gather up everything you don’t need and can’t wear to donate to the Salvation Army. Your purpose for tomorrow may be to help your decorate a local nursing home for Christmas.

Today, develop or rediscover your purpose in life. What can you do to help yourself meet your life goals? How can you take action to help others? What would you like to do to get yourself in a better position?

Don’t get discouraged if it takes you a couple of days to find your purpose and stick to it. However, I promise this: Once you and your purpose get going, you’ll wake up with more direction and go to bed feeling accomplished.

To further help develop yourself and your purpose, I suggest reading Become the Person You Want to Be and Take Time Out for Yourself.

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