what am i suposed to do

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I have a life but i am unsure what i should do with it. I feel like a kid with a pile of legos but no instructions, Or a computer with no program. I feel as though i am without a purpose. I have a life and i have interests to many to follow, and even if i did single out my interests how do i follow them?

Last edited by legionnaire on 02 Oct 2007, 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Asking the same question, ultimately, you have to create the meaning. That's more glib than what I really believe, however.

I agree with this. I believe that you are not "supposed" to do anything. You can do whatever you like.

However, there may be people telling you what you are supposed to do. Your parents may tell you that you should be a writer (just for example). If you belong to a church, they may tell you that you're supposed to do something else. Or your friends might tell you that you're supposed to party all the time.

It all comes down to what you think is important.

If you don't mind my asking, how old are you? Most people feel purposeless at different stages in life, I think.

I say do what makes you happy, and try new things that seem interesting. Interest becomes passion, passion becomes purpose. Ideally, anyway.

Ask question, find answer in your interests.

And what happens if you reject the very concept of 'importance'? When one reaches beyond that, where is there to go? It's all inconsequential to me, I've never trusted my feelings, they are nonsense as far as I'm concerned, polarized by a mere chemical reaction. It's not substantial enough for me to base my life on, but it's the only voice I can find. It's giving me conflicting views and feelings, I've got nothing to follow, that path leads round in circles. The world and all that's in it means little to me, I've got no calling. I've felt purposeless all my life.

I'm a biological machine, nothing more. Just sitting here waiting for the eventual switch off when nature in it's infinite randomness decommissions me for just as little reason as I was constructed in the first place. It's all so pointless unless I can GIVE myself a point, which I can't, because I have nothing TO give. I'm empty, I've no instruction, nor any will to follow one. I've got no intuition, I've got no feelings that can transcend the realisation that they're nothing more than a reaction and mean nothing outside of the context of my mind.

What I do or do not do in this world only really affects me and those around me during my time here and that's so small scale that I just don't give a f**k. Right now I'm just killing time because it is all I have the resources for, it's the easiest thing to do, it's all there really is for me. All this is from my perspective right at this moment, which will likely change within a few short hours. Another ridiculous variable, reinforcing my view that it's all so meaningless. I keep looking through these windows, into this room and I see myself from different angles, different perspectives. But at the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything. I'm looking at the same thing and getting all sorts of different thoughts from it, I'm either everything or nothing as far as I'm concerned. Where can you go from everything or nothing? Neither tell me of what I am or where I might like to be. I can't choose one thing out of the infinite, because my feelings keep messing with that, and forcing me to change my choice constantly. That paralyses me. I've got nowhere to go with it all.

These words mean nothing to me, I just pulled at words from my infinite data stream and grabbed desperately at whatever was in reach, if I did the same in 5 minutes, I'd come up with something entirely different. Again, it's perpetually rewriting itself and getting nowhere. Nothing stands out, it's all equal. This is nonsense. I'm sick of it. I don't know when to stop typing, I stop, I go on, it makes no change. It all makes no change, it's all futile. I don't know what I'm looking for. But I know I'll never find it.

Hi legionnaire,
I have been feeling like that too-what is my purpose? I don't know. I failed an ethics test. I am awful at science.
I'm a computer. Computers don't know what the meaning of life is. Neither do I.

I feel the SAME way, and know I have since I was no older than 6. I try not to think about it.

No need to seek a purpose in life....live life and fall into your purpose.

Some examples of living life:

1 Write a Best-Seller
2 Swim With ...
3 Win an Award, Trophy or Prize
4 Catch A Fish With Your Bare Hands
5 Make a Discovery
6 Throw A House Party When Your Parents Are Our
7 Be Part Of A Threesome
8 Realize Your Childhood Dream
9 Learn That Instrument
10 Leave Your Mark In Graffiti
11 Storm Chase A Tornado
12 Get A Piece of Art into a Exhibition
13 Meet Someone With Your Own Name
14 Ride the World's Biggest Rollercoasters
15 Stage Dive or Crowd Surf
16 Get into the Guinness Book of World Records
17 Own a Pointless Collection
18 Study the Kama Sutra and Put Theory Into Practice
19 Master Poker and Win Big in a Casino
20 Get Backstage and Get Off With a Rock God
21 Be a Human Guinea Pig
22 Go Up in a Hot Air Balloon
23 Get Arrested
24 See a Space Shuttle Launch
25 Capture the Moment in an Award-winning Photograph
26 Bungee Jump
27 See an Erupting Volcano
28 Sky Dive
29 Meet Your Idol
30 Stay in the Best Suite in a Five Star Hotel
31 Experience Weightlessness
32 See the Aurora Borealis
33 Get to Score a Hole in One
34 Design Your Own Cocktail
35 Play a Part in Your Favourite TV Show
36 Visit Every Country
37 Make Fire Without Matches
38 See These Animals in the Wild
39 Go to the Dogs
40 Get a Free Upgrade on a Plane
41 Be Friends With Your Ex
42 Hit Your Targets
43 Throw a Dart into a Map and Travel to Where it Lands
44 Attend a Film Premiere
45 Do a Runner From a Fancy Restaurant
46 Scuba Dive
47 Milk a Cow
48 Be Present When Your Country Wins the World Cup
49 See Both Solar and Lunar Eclipses
50 Write Your Name Over a Star on the Walk of Fame
51 Learn Another Language
52 Read the Greatest Books Ever Written
53 Complete a Coast to Coast Road Trip Across America
54 Make at Least One Huge Purchase You Can't Afford
55 Score the Winning Goal/Try/Basket
56 Gatecrash A Fancy Party
57 See the All-time Greatest Films
58 Live in the Place You Love
59 Leave a Job You Hate
60 Take Part in a Police Line-up
61 Get Away with the Perfect Practical Joke or Hoax
62 Join the Mile High Club
63 Make the Front Page of a National Newspaper
64 Drive a Car at Top Speed
65 Shout 'Drinks Are on Me!' in a Pub or Bar
66 Be Part of a Flash Mob
67 Visit ...
68 Save Someones Life
69 In Various Languages, Learn to ...
70 Invent a Word That Makes it into the Dictionary
71 Have Adventurous Sex
72 Have Enough Money to Do All the Things on This List
73 Stand on the International Date Line
74 Learn to Fly a Plane
75 Get a Tattoo and/or a Piercing
76 Invent Something
77 Learn Astronomy and Read the Night Sky
78 Drink a Vintage Wine
79 Answer a Personal Ad
80 Spend Christmas on the Beach
81 Get Barred From a Pub or Bar
82 Build Your Own House
83 Skinny Dip at Midnight
84 Sell all Your Junk on eBay and Make a Profit
85 Visit the World's Tallest Buildings
86 Run a Marathon
87 Conquer Your Fear
88 Get Married Unusually
89 Throw Away the Instant Noodles
90 Join the 16-Mile High Club
91 Publish a Cult Website
92 Own an Original Work of Art
93 Complete the Monopoly Board Pub Crawl
94 Get Something Named After You
95 Get Revenge
96 Be an Extra in a Film
97 Live Out of a Van
98 Go On a Demonstration
99 Confess
100 Reach 100 Years of Age
101 Continue Your Gene Pool

You can pick either the most interesting thing or least uninteresting thing that attracts your attention and follow it where it takes you. It's how I wound up being a COBOL programmer for 24 years.

COBOL?!? DON'T GET ME STARTED!

makelifehappen,

That isn't living life, bt things to do to do things. I already do THAT. You can't really answer a question by asking another.

@NUTLOG

Well, you're clearly supposed to be a philosopher.

Idunno

Uhm...completely confused by your post, but either way... I didn't answer a question by asking another, I simply stated my opinion. I am not stuck on finding my purpose in life. I do not waste time dabbling in the deeper meaning. I don't spend time hiding behind shadows and hoping that one day all of my childhood trauma will wash away in the waves of some great calling. I choose life. I explore. I create new possibilities. I learn. I step outside of my box, even if I am not always comfortable doing so. I give merely to see the reactions of those on the receiving end. I change the things that make me unhappy. I laugh, even when there isn't a single thing in my life to pleased about, as a way to keep my sanity. I love with all that I have and without conditions/expectations. I chase my dreams, as I am the only one that can make them realities.

So now 2ukenkerl, you tell me, what do you consider this if this is not living life?

You have the proper temperament to become a literary scholar specializing in the Russian and French existentialists.

Find out who you really are, and BE that person.