"For many years I assumed finding my “purpose” was the secret to a meaningful and fulfilling life. It was just one of those universally accepted facts that each of us is born to do something, and life is incomplete until you determine what that “something” is and do it. My childhood was one of drifting purposelessly through time. I wasn’t involved in extra—curricular happenings at school and never really developed a main interest, passion, or hobby. As I got older, it troubled me more because I saw other guys excel in sports, music, and mechanics. As time went on, I became more intent on finding some (any) purpose. I reasoned it out as follows:
a. Everyone is born to do something.
b. Whatever that something is, you will be wildly successful at it because, if you were born to do it, you are especially gifted and skilled to excel in it.
c. Being wildly successful at something makes you some—body and people take notice and applaud accordingly.
I was desperate for some applause or a pat on the back, for someone to notice me and affirm I had done something good. It was a great theory, but there was one little problem. I wasn’t overly intelligent, artistic, athletic, mechanically inclined, or business oriented, and I couldn’t rely on my looks. In short, I couldn’t do anything."
(Jim Palmer. Wide Open Spaces)
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