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Comment by snarf21 | Hacker News Reader

You need to separate your work from your purpose. Think of work as merely collecting resources to maintain life. Get a hobby or volunteer at a charity and find purpose there. I've been much happier with putting my "self" into designing and testing board games. I forget about the dumpster fire after I leave and focus my energy on something I enjoy creating.

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I'll go ya one better and say maybe forget your purpose entirely. Not in a negative, nihilistic way, but in kind of a Zenny way. You think Floyd here thinks about his purpose? Well actually it seems like he has decided "my purpose is to care for these people on my route," so maybe that's a bad example for my point. Although it's worth noticing, HE decided that. Which proves, it's totally arbitrary. Meaning is wherever you ascribe it (and probably nowhere else).

Mainly the idea is not to let "purpose" be a logjam that stops you. Life will happen to you regardless. Lately I've been trying to free myself from the endless quest for (please use whiny voice, knit brow earnestly, hold upturned fists close in front of you, and wiggle them slightly while saying) meeeaning. It stymied me for a long time. But it has to be seen for the ego trip it is. It's a "get over yourself" moment. Rein in that fanciful and conceited ego that's always wondering what great and high purpose your magnificent and important soul was cut out for. All that pressure! Letting go of it is a bit of a death (ego death). But jeez what a relief. It frees you to do whatever you want, which ironically is the only way you might actually end up going on to do something worthwhile. (Worthwhile according to you.)

How is being anxious at discovering an objective value for oneself (“meaning”) egotistical? If anything, it is an external reach out of the ego and away from doing whatever you want.

My thought process is a bit circular and paradoxical, I admit it. I also tried to be brief, which led to a long list at one point being truncated to the phrase "whatever you want" which might be misleading. My intent was more like "anything at all." In other words, meaning is everywhere. Even the post office. (Or it's nowhere, and that's ok too.)

Wanting your life to be meaningful is still you, caring about your life, that's the ego part. You can skip the whole meaning thing if you want, and just start doing things. I dunno, it helped me unblock myself.

I understand the anxiety and the relief from abandoning a possibly unending and self-destructive task for "purpose", but it is exactly that energy which propels humans to do great things. But I agree, meaning can be everywhere.

This is a little dystopian to me. You absolutely can have a job which pays you to build things you think matter.

How many coders can have such jobs? 5%? 10%? Probably not more... For the rest of us, you either find satisfaction in the craft itself, or outside work.

> Think of work as merely collecting resources to maintain life.

Work related tasks are 50%+ of you awake time so it's kind of hard to forget about it.

I could work 2 days a week while keeping my lifestyle but it's next to impossible to find a stable job allowing that schedule.

I agree with the sentiment somewhat, but when we're spending the majority of our waking days at the "dumpster fire" and just a few hours doing what we love, it feels wrong and depressing.

https://www.theonion.com/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionat...

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