Finding Purpose in Quarantine

There are so many changes going on in our world today. Lately, daily routines and normal day-to-day behaviors have come to a staggering halt. As we struggle through quarantine, it is easy to lose purpose. In an effort to help combat insecurities currently surrounding us, we must understand what purpose is, how we lost it, and how and why to get it back.

Purpose can be defined as, “a central, self-organizing life aim that organizes and stimulates goals, manages behaviors, and provides a sense of meaning.”. In layman’s terms, purpose is something we create in our mind that directs us to generate goals, the behaviors to complete these goals, and provides meaning in our lives. Without purpose, we lose the meaning in our lives and have no sense of direction.

Purpose is lost because we are no longer performing the behaviors to complete our goals. Right now, none of us can actually complete the goals we had a month ago, let alone two weeks ago. We are stuck in the house due to this change. Those goals are now irrelevant. When our functioning (behavior) has changed, we have perceived change in the environment. The uncertainty in the environment deflects the ability to adapt, thus causing anxiety. It is important to not focus on the anxiety itself, but the solution to diffuse the anxiety.

We also define ourselves by the behaviors we do. Such as: I am great at building things (carpenter) or I can keep the office at work organized (executive assistant). Those behaviors are no longer a part of our lives. Therefore, we no longer have a consistent confirming environment for a basis of our self-identity. We are on shaky ground now and want to return to equilibrium. The one way to get this security back is to regain our sense of purpose.

First, because our purpose is driven by our goals, we need to set new goals. Make sure you are setting realistic goals. Don’t focus your goals that point back to your old lifestyle. Due to the uncertainty of our environment, we should not set goals based on something that no longer exists. If you do, you will be like a hamster on a wheel going nowhere and getting nothing accomplished. Goals have to be based on the present reality and needs. In our current environment, it could be realistic to think a week timeframe is a long term goal.

What do you want to accomplish in the next week? Reading, cleaning, cooking, yard work, crafting, painting, repairing, social networking, exercising, teaching, etc. Then break that goal into short term goals. On Monday I will gather needed tools, call Marsha, defrost meat, etc. Make sure you write these down! Yes, on paper. The writing, reading, touching of the paper, walking past the paper, etc. all encodes the goals stronger in your mind. Go back each day and evaluate your goal progress by rereading the goals. Make any changes needed. Add any additional goals due to changes in schedule or environmental factors. Having a purpose can lower your anxiety to all the change in our world.

Why is having purpose so important? A sense of purpose may be an asset serving as a source of resilience to life challenges and promote positive adjustment to events, such as the one we are currently going through. Purpose is a significant factor that can protect us from a decrease in quality of life and gives us confidence to be able to deal with difficult situations. Working on goals to enhance our purpose will give us the resiliency to positively emerge from the changes associated with the current pandemic. Remember, all of us are in the same boat. Actually, due to social distancing, we are unable to be in the same physical boat, but we are all having the same experience!