Find Your Why is the title of a book by Simon Sinek and something of a mantra to live by. The idea is to find what really drives you and let it shine through all your future actions.
The concept of finding your why resonated with me a lot when I first heard about it. I was stuck in a job which, I realised, I kept at for no other reason than I got used to it. I didn’t like the job. I wasn’t proud of what I was doing. At times the tasks I had to perform were drastically at odds with my core personal values. When people asked what I did for a living, I never said “I’m a [job title]”. I said, “uh, well, I’m currently with this company and my job consists of this and that”. I kept a mental distance from it. On a subconscious level, I didn’t want this job to become a part of me.
Did you know that some languages have this distinction embedded in their grammar? Between “I’m a [profession] — it’s my identity” and “I’m a [profession] — it’s a circumstance of my life”? I thought about that a lot.
Eventually I decided I can’t keep going like this and I left the job and proceeded to think long and hard about what I could do instead to finally be able to say “I’m this”. I thought about what I loved doing most and what I was good at and what I wanted to contribute to the world — even if it was a relatively small thing — and how I could forge all those aspects into a Proper Job. And that’s pretty much what finding your why is about.
My “why” turned out to involve art — because I can share my creative ideas with people and hopefully bring a bit of joy or magic or reflection into their lives. That’s why I created Florem Ipsum.
Have you found your “why” yet? Are you still looking for it? Tell me in the comments (: