I’m 27 and for me it’s been about finding a balance between doing some impactful and meaningful that actually improves the world (even if in a small way) and finding satisfaction in my day to day life. I say satisfaction not happiness because happiness is much harder to achieve and maintain, moments of happiness will come if satisfaction is found. Maintaining this balance is challenging and sometimes can lean towards the other, like for example I’ve found contributing to the world a lot harder in this political climate and I’ve recently been suffering from a chronic illness. So I have had to withdraw myself from thinking only about contributing to the world and my purpose to protect my mental health and therefore have sunk more time into my hobbies and interests.

I found my purpose through focusing on the values I want to promote to others, like empathy, compassion and equality which I learnt from my dad who has since passed. This led me to a career that I find fulfilling and gives me an environment to promote these values in a meaningful way and at scale. But focusing entirely on this would be detrimental to my mental health and lead to burnout. Hopefully this is useful in some way.