Do you ever wonder what your purpose in life is? Or, what it is that put you here on this Earth?

In life, we go through different phases. In the parenthood phase, for example, you change dramatically.

At one time, you were once this little girl, who was adventurous, loving, silly and so fun. You craved happiness, freedom, and friends. You had a creative imagination that knew no bounds.

And then, you go to school and you realize that there ARE bad things, and bad people in life. People that make you smile, and people who hurt you. That life is not what you suddenly thought it was, and reality hit you in the face.

Next is high school, where friends and peer pressure start to determine your worth. High school is a turning point from childhood to adulthood, and when you’re supposed to figure out where you want to go to college and what you want to do for the rest of your life.

Enter college. New friends, new responsibilities, new world. But you are still YOU. You haven’t changed one bit. There is a new superpower that comes about, called independence. ”

And then you meet “The One”… and make THE biggest decision of your life, by saying “Yes.”

Yes to the man who you will spend the rest of your life with, who you will share a home with, grow with, cry with, and fight ugly with. The man who will determine your children’s personalities, and who they grow up to be. The man who will either be your biggest supporter some days, or your biggest case of stress, and the man who will change your personality, who will change your friends, and who will change what others think about you.

But then, you become a mother.

A mother who found an entire new meaning of life after going through the hardest phase of life. A mother who endured so much pain, sleepless nights, fluctuating hormones, and suddenly has no time for friends, her husband, her home, or herself.

But yet, you found an entire new meaning of life through this thing called “motherhood.” You found how much you could possibly withstand. You found out just how tired you could be, without your body physically shutting down. You found a new husband through the growth you experienced together, and ultimately new friends who you could now relate to on an entirely new level.

And, you found a new self. A new, fulfilling purpose. A purpose of life that reflects being the best human you can possibly be for yourself, so that your husband and kids are happy. A purpose of loving those who you’ve not taken the time to love in the last few years because you were “too busy” (or, it just wasn’t a priority). Because those people who you love, you will learn, won’t be around forever. Sometimes they leave you entirely too soon, and you wish you had one more second with them. Just, one more.

And so, your purpose in life becomes not what you do, or how much money you earn, but how you leave people feeling. Are you making people feel loved? Are you taking the opportunity to make a stranger smile? Can you do better to others so that maybe they might also do better to two more people?

If not, question what your purpose in life is. Go ahead. What is it? If you were to die tomorrow, what would you wish for right now?

THAT is your purpose.

We only have one life. Let’s do good, be good, and keep chasing that purpose.