“Purpose” – The Great Purpose Panic

Why Everyone’s Freaking Out About Meaning (and Why You Can Calm Down)

Let’s Start with a Confession

If you’ve ever found yourself doom-scrolling through LinkedIn at 2 a.m., staring at someone’s post about “leaving corporate life to pursue their passion for artisanal honey,” and thinking, Should I be doing that? You’re in the right place.

Because somewhere between “live your best life” and “find your why,” we collectively lost the plot.

The modern man’s crisis isn’t about not having purpose; it’s about being bullied by it.

We’re constantly told we should know what our calling is, and if we don’t, we’re apparently wasting our lives. Cue the Great Purpose Panic: a global epidemic of feeling vaguely inadequate, despite doing absolutely fine.

Let’s blame Hollywood for this one. Films love to show people “finding themselves” in dramatic moments, quitting their jobs, shaving their heads, running into the sunset. Real life? It’s mostly emails, leftovers, and occasionally remembering to water your plants.

Purpose doesn’t appear like a neon sign. It’s built slowly, through the boring bits, habits, connections, and the tiny things you keep doing when no one’s watching.

Think less “Eat Pray Love”, more “Eat, Try, Repeat.”

We live in a world of comparison. Social media has turned life into a constant audition. You can’t open your phone without being reminded that someone your age has:

• Run a marathon,
• Written a book,
• Adopted three rescue dogs,
• And launched a podcast about mindfulness and sourdough.

Meanwhile, you’re just trying to get through your inbox.

The result? You feel behind. Not because you are, but because the internet has convinced you there’s a finish line and that you’re late.

Here’s the truth: you’re not behind; you’re just on a different timeline.

For proof, read:

• BBC Worklife: “Why Comparing Ourselves to Others Is So Damaging”
• The Guardian: “Social Media and the Cult of Self-Improvement”

Purpose is now a product. Whole industries exist to make you feel like you’re one workshop away from enlightenment.

You’ve seen it:

• Courses on “unlocking your why” (for £399 and your soul).
• Coaches who promise to “align your energy with abundance.”
• YouTube gurus explaining that if you’re not fulfilled, it’s because you haven’t manifested hard enough.

Let’s call it what it is: nonsense with a filter.

Purpose doesn’t come from buying a programme. It comes from engagement, being curious, contributing, and connecting.

Try this instead:

• Action for Happiness offers free daily challenges that actually work.
• FutureLearn: “The Science of Wellbeing” (free course) taught by Yale researchers, not Instagram gurus.

We’ve confused being busy with being purposeful. Society worships hustle: if you’re not grinding, you’re failing.

But being busy is not the same as being fulfilled. You can fill out your calendar, but it still feels completely empty.

As the brilliant Oliver Burkeman put it in Four Thousand Weeks:

“We’ve been granted the astonishing gift of a few thousand weeks of life and yet we live as if it’s a dress rehearsal.”

Maybe the panic isn’t that you haven’t found your purpose. Perhaps it’s that you’ve been too busy to notice it.

Researchers at Stanford University found that people who treat purpose like a riddle to solve tend to be more anxious and less satisfied.
Those who treat it like an experiment, trying new things, meeting new people, and learning are more fulfilled.

In other words: stop searching. Start sampling.

And if you need more proof, here’s what else the evidence shows:

• Having a sense of purpose boosts longevity (Harvard Health).
• Volunteering or helping others directly increases happiness (NIH Research).
• Purpose protects against burnout (Psychology Today).

Purpose isn’t a mystery. It’s a muscle. You strengthen it through action, not contemplation.

Sometimes, your “existential crisis” is just boredom in disguise.

Before you burn your life down and start a kombucha farm, ask: Am I unfulfilled, or just under-challenged?

Try small experiments:

• Join a local project (Do It UK)
• Pick up a hobby that doesn’t involve a screen
• Spend time with people who make you laugh, not just grind

As the NHS Better Health guide puts it, meaning often comes from small, achievable actions that reconnect you with the world around you.

Here’s your cheat sheet for when the Great Purpose Panic hits:

1. Stop Comparing – Your life isn’t a Netflix series. You’re not missing a plot twist.
2. Notice What Feels Good – Purpose hides in things that make you feel alive.
3. Do Something Useful – Help a neighbour. Call your mate. Purpose loves movement.
4. Laugh at It All – Seriously. It’s okay to find the absurdity funny. It’s the only way through.

Purpose doesn’t have to be profound. It just has to be yours.

You don’t need to start a charity, write a novel, or meditate in the Himalayas. You just need to do things that matter to you, to someone, to something.

And if you’re not sure where to start? That’s fine. Start anywhere.

• The School of Life: “What Is Purpose Anyway?”
• The Atlantic: “Stop Trying to Find Your Passion”
• Headspace: “Finding Meaning in Everyday Life”

You don’t need a five-year plan. You need a five-minute pause to realise you’re already living with more purpose than you think.

You get up. You show up. You care, even when it’s hard.
That is the purpose.

The panic can wait.

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