There has definitely been an increase in awareness in the importance of living consciously, finding your ‘why’ or in other words living your purpose through books and social media. Despite that and the fact that life in many ways is easier now than say 50 years ago, we still appear to be living in an era of mental health epidemic, much to the result of technological advancement and increased performance pressures in society whether its in relation to how we look, pressures at work, education and home.
People easily find themselves in a dog-chase trying to catch up to get what others have and they think they want! The external and internal pressures to achieve can be so overwhelming and never ending. We have to come to the realisation that we each have our own unique timeline, one that’s right for us. This is from the time we graduate, the time we marry, the time we have kids, the time we leap in our career or business and the time we travel the world. There is no “right or wrong time”! It’s simply the time that’s right for you. As soon as we take grasp of that concept, we stop comparing our life to others and we become more conscious in our own life journey, where we are heading and what we yearn to achieve.
More still, as people get older, they realise that living a fulfilling life is less about their own personal gains and more about their service to others. The joy of helping someone in need or contributing to a charity close to your heart is a feeling of real contentment and you begin to see the world through a wider lens.
Although I’ve always loved voluntary work and work of service to my community and charity work, especially helping orphans, what attracted me to joining a business networking club was the ethos of charity work. Bowdon business club, being a non-profit organisation, was unique in its emphasis towards helping the 4 charities who occupy member seats in the club. To listen to the representatives of these charities speak of the difference the club’s input has made is heartwarming to say the least. Learning about the people they are helping never fails to bring a tear in the room. It makes me realise that even when we choose to go about our daily life, earning an honest living to ourselves and our families, there is always an opportunity to serve others if we just look wide enough. The earlier we find our purpose, the longer we can live a life of service and fulfilment.
