❝Those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how.❞
-Frederich NietzscheFrederich Nietzsche was an existential philosopher who argued against conformity and for the empowerment of individuals to take responsibility for their lives.His quote above is worth taking a deeper look at.HAVING A WHY TO LIVEHaving a “Why” to live is to answer the question, “Why are you here?” That doesn’t need to be an overly philosophical question. It’s simply asking what is worth doing with your time. It’s deciding who you want to be.Further, his point is that a Why to live can give you direction and help keep you on a meaningful path. It serves as a guide.You can think of it like a North Star.If you’re into mindfulness and meditation, you know that an anchor is something we direct our attention towards (commonly our breath) and redirect back to when we get distracted. If the North Star comparison doesn’t work, you can think of a Why like an anchor in meditation.Some people are quite uncomfortable with the idea of goals (I’m one of them), and having a North Star or anchor might feel a little bit too much like a goal. If that’s you, simply think of your Why as a flag in the ground.However you view your Why, it serves as a guide to remind you where you want to go. You can change your mind later – your Why can change. But having a Why gives you direction, and also helps you reorient if you get distracted.Having a Why to live helps us choose our own path.YOUR VALUES AND YOUR WHYYour Why sits at the top of your priorities. Think of it like the tippy top of a pyramid. It’s important but it’s not the whole story.Serving as the foundation of your Why are your core values. You wouldn’t have a Why that you didn’t find valuable or meaningful. So the first step in determining your Why is to first understand your values.In other words, our values and our Why are connected.The Meaning in Life Questionnaire assesses two dimensions of meaning in life, the presence of and search for meaning. Presence measures how full you feel your life is of meaning. Search measures how engaged and motivated you are in efforts to find meaning in your life.YOUR PAST INFORMS YOUR PRESENTYou may know other people who have different values than you have. They might even be people very close to you. How can someone not value what you value? How can others value things you don’t?Everyone has different values. We all have different values because everyone has a different past.Our past shapes what we find important and why. Understanding your biography – financial or otherwise – can give you insights into what you value and why.As you lived your life, things happened to you. Some of those things were your fault. Other times, it was completely out of your control. In any case, you learned lessons. Doing some things felt important and meaningful. The lesson there is that whatever you did or how you responded made you feel good. It felt valuable.To summarize how your Why gets created, your past informs your values. Your values inform your Why. And your Why keeps you on the right track.LIFE TRANSITIONS AND REORIENTATINGWe haven’t yet talked about the second part of Nietzsche’s message. We talked about “Those who have a why to live…”The second part of that is “…can bear with almost any how.”When he refers to How, he’s referring to life. Whatever life throws our way.Think of this line as your life. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. Even if it’s stressful, you know this life.Then, something happens that disrupts your life. It could be losing a job, getting evicted, or getting divorced. There are far more severe and scary disruptions, too.But it doesn’t always have to be something bad. There are good disruptions, like graduating college, moving to a new city, having children, or retiring.When one of these events disrupts your life, the rules change.We see these disruptions throughout our whole life. Some of them are good. Some of then are not so good. Others are awful.Yet they are guaranteed. True, we may not know exactly which disruption will happen when, but we do know that our lives will change. There’s an old saying that change is the only constant in life. Or, as the band Rush puts it in their song Tom Sawyer, “Changes aren’t permanent, but change is.”These disruptions, as I’ve been calling them, are often referred to as life transitions. A life transition occurs when a new situation enters our lives.In Nietzsche’s words, life transitions are life’s “hows.”Thus, “Those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how” means that those with a strong sense of purpose in life are well equipped to handle life’s transitions.You get one life; live intentionally.If you know someone else who would benefit from reading this, please share it with them. Spread the word, if you think there’s a word to spread.To share via text, social media, or email, simply copy and paste the following link:Subscribe to Meaningful MoneyThanks for reading. If you found value in this article, consider subscribing. Each week I send out a new post with personal stories and simple drawings. It’s free, and there’s no spam.REFERENCES AND INFLUENCESBarker, Dan: Life Driven Purpose
Ben-Shahar, Tal: Happier, No Matter What
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Manson, Mark: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a FuckMcKay, Matthew, John Forsyth, and Georg Eifert: Your Life on Purpose
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