Today, I listened to a song on the radio which was about the meaning of life.

And a couple of hours later, I'm still thinking about this question:

Why do I live?

This question involves multiple perspectives. The biological perspective is maybe a bit simpler than the others: Because I was born.

What about other perspectives - the spiritual, the philosophical, the religious, the individual, ...?

So why am I still here? Why do I still live? Why do I still WANT to live?

Somehow this answer seems to be connected to the root cause of life. But it also seems to be connected to the end of life.

When I'm at the end of life, I would probably ask myself (and it would be so interesting to hear the answers of elderly people to these questions):

Was this the life that I hoped it would be? Do I regret certain things? What would I have done differently? Would I like to undo something? Was I happy with my life? Did I fulfil my purpose?

What is my purpose? And is my purpose the ultimate reason why I live?

I have values and beliefs. I have dreams. I have goals. I certainly want to be happy. But is that all? Is it my purpose to fulfil all my dreams and reach all my goals while living conforming to my values and beliefs? Living without regrets? That seems to be desirable! But is this all?

What would I do, if today was my last day? Probably spend the time with my beloved ones. I think my life had very little meaning if I had no one. Is this also the reason why I live? Or could I find a different meaning in life if I had no one?

When I asked people about their purpose they often told me common answers, including marrying, getting children, buying or building a house, seeing the world.

I wonder if this is everything?

I don't want to judge this. I think it's a great one. I'm thinking about similar things. It must be good if you are happy with it, right?

But somehow, it also feels to me as if this is something carved in stone. As if the book was already written. It sounds very harsh, but almost living like a lemming. Or like a pre-programmed sim.

Of course, we all have our typical days. We wake up, we do some kind of morning routine, we work, we eat, we spend time on hobbies, we sleep. Rinse and repeat. Maybe 5 days/week? 71% of our lifetime?

I just wonder, if I live like this for most of my time (well, because this typical day represents the majority of my life), will I regret this when I'm old?

I feel like there must be peaks in my life. Things that I don't plan. Things I have no clue about before. Things that have a major impact.

Is it something internal or external?

Is the reason why I live something caused by external circumstances or coming from my inner self?

The past is full of so many far-reaching events.

People needed to fight for their rights, fight for freedom. They started revolutions to change the system.

And today? Well, we came a long way. But we are not at the end yet. There are so many problems in the world that must be solved. We have wars, religious conflicts, the global climate crisis, plastic waste, etc.

To me, there seems to be a difference between surviving and living. Even though I think that the meaning of surviving and living has changed a lot during the years.

It feels like the surviving mode in the rich countries of this world is living the typical day. But only by surviving, we wouldn't be where we are now, there would be no progress.

So what would be the living mode? Making a progress in the world? Saving the world? Making a real impact? Or is this the job of the politicians? Shouldn't we all care that humanity survives? The earth will not be there forever.

What happens after my life? Do I want to be remembered for something? Do I want to leave something to the world? Is the largest impact we can do raising our children so that they can keep living and saving the world?

Or shouldn't we care at all? Should we only take care of our own life? Because the end of the world is probably not within our span of life?

I create the meaning of my life.

What I know is, that I don't want to live like a lemming. I want to be happy and live without regrets. I want to pursue my goals, my dreams, my visions.

But I also want to make something of an impact. I want to give something back to the world. Contribute to making some kind of progress. Maybe trying to make the world at least just a little bit better. Maybe by helping people. Maybe by empowering people.

I want to explore my curiosity. I don't want to be standing still.

I want to create the meaning of my life. And a good step to do this is asking myself:

Why do I live? What is my purpose? What do I want to be remembered for? What is my impact on this world? How do I want to feel at the end of my life? How do I want to look back on my life?

It doesn't seem to be easy to find the answers to these questions. Maybe I'm overthinking it. But it feels good to think about them. Maybe the continuous search for the answers to these questions IS the answer itself.