Anyone feel a deep feeling of lack of purpose?

Seeking purpose is an active thing and requires work. Keep trying different things until you find something you care about.

Maybe whatever you like to do on the side after work, something you look forward to during the week is your passion. If it's just coming home and having your meal then you probably haven't tried enough things to develop interests? Not trying to judge but trying to help although I am no expert.

Study religions

Wait till you have kids. You end up focusing all your time on them.

Like others said, try different things. But the easiest is to sponsor a child’s education in a developing country. Does not take lots of dollars and you have the right trust take care of it. Looking back as you see the child develop, you will feel a growing sense of purpose. Otherwise we are just stardust. Eat, breath, die to be recycled.

I’ve had a very clear sense of purpose ever since I could remember. And when purposeful I can and have spent any amount of effort and perseverance towards that purpose. And yet, a) I’ve lost that sense at various points in my life, b) the actual purpose has changed dramatically several times, c) I’ve been disillusioned by the stated purpose a few times. My learnings, and what has worked for me: The notion of purpose is vastly overrated and overly romanticised by our society. Don’t get too hung up on any particular purpose or even the notion of having a purpose. What matters is that you do your best at whatever you do, and through that gather the information or ideas or inspiration you need to know what else you should be doing if anything.

For different people, it comes different ways, and sometimes a combination of them. You can’t really create an actual passion out of thin air, but you *can* learn to find those that you already have buried possibly quite deeply inside, and maybe just not yet discovered. I was lucky to just fall into something that turned out to be my calling in life while I was still in college. Unfortunately, injuries took that always from me permanently, and since my childbearing years were over, I’ve been pretty aimless myself. I was a paramedic- but that had roots in learning first aid at a very young age in Girl Scouts, plus becoming a WSI and lifeguard in high school and college. I did know I liked to help people, and although I didn’t have the words then, that I have always been a rescuer at heart. So that’s long gone because of injuries, but I am, however, quite passionate about a few other things, although I could never make a living doing them, at least not without further education. I am able to pursue them both informally via the Internet and by volunteering. There are many, many other ways to help and even rescue other people in need. Passions do not always start out as bright and cheerful lights in the dark that just dawn on you like this. They are often driven by things like outrage over some kind of unjust or otherwise negative situation, and thus stir a strong desire to do something to fix it. Forget goals for a moment, especially of the career sort, and just think about whatever you feel strongly about. What upsets you and makes you angry, makes you wish you could do something about that problem? What gets you ranting at the news or when you hear about it by some other means? Or brings out a simple desire to simply help and be of service? Or just warms the cockles of your heart, or makes it soar? Starving children in Africa? Trafficked women? Child abuse? Climate change? Something political? Elderly people living out their days alone and sick with no one to care for them? The invisibility and marginalization of disabled people in our society? Nursing home abuse of the elderly? Art, music, theater? Maybe you simply don’t have the talent for a creative field even if you have the interest, but there are a zillion other things one can do in the art world, that maybe bring your existing professional skills and education into play. Ditto with other kinds of causes and charities. What would you do if you could do anything in the world, neither money nor education being an object or concern? If you knew you couldn’t possibly fail? This is pie-in-the-sky time, so dream and brainstorm big. No editing at this stage! What did you dream about doing or having as a child that maybe somewhere along the way you decided that you could not do or have for some reason? We all have hopes and dreams as children, but unfortunately, many of us have let life and/or other people beat them out of us, and convince us that they are unworthy or unrealistic goals for us for a myriad of possible reasons. They might actually *be* unattainable in their original format for any number of reasons, but start thinking about other ways you *could* create them - including bringing the *qualities* you perceive in them - in your life now. As an example, I wanted to be an actress as a child, but ditched that idea when my actress mother once deeply embarrassed me in front of my classmates during the production of a school play. I found that being in sales and training called on many of the same kinds of skills and character traits: in both fields, one is essentially (and sometimes even literally) always on stage. Even EMS did that. There is a strong element of performance and choreography absolutely inherent in the job. Diagnosing a patient’s problems, coming up with a treatment plan and executing it, all the while managing bystanders and often competing priorities - it’s a dance, and a kind of improv, and the paramedic is both choreographer, director, and dancer/actor in the drama unfolding on each call. I got that original dream; it just didn’t look quite like I had expected. In the end, it was far more fulfilling for me, though. Somewhere in this process of introspection and creative noodling around in your head, you are bound to find *something* you are passionate about, or that could grow into a passion with a little nurturing. It’s wonderful when you can actually make a living doing something you love, and oftentimes there *is* a way to do that. It might also turn out that there really no reasonable way to make a living at it, and that you still must put a roof over your own head. Then you look for ways to do whatever it is on a volunteer basis, and maybe you think about going back to school to retrain while you are still working at whatever you are doing now. And maybe it’s something you always engage in avocationally. I hope this gives you some ideas!

Volunteering might help! I have purpose in my job not just because I enjoy what I do, but I also teach social media skills to my peers. Seeing them do well and improve and gain confidence fuels me. But I also enjoy taking time out of my day to volunteer at a soup kitchen or charity event where I can give my time to someone who needs it.

Find ways to be helpful to people around you. Don’t look for purpose, look for meaning instead. My single friend is helping us by coming over and playing with our 1 year old on weekends while I shower and get errands done. He chose that over being depressed at home thinking about how he doesn’t have his own gf or kid which is what I used to do. I’ve shifted my mindset to helping people around me. I find it difficult to be sad when I’m serving others.

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