Does living your life for others give your life meaning?

We’re always on the hunt for giving meaning to our lives. We all want to have a purpose for why we are alive on this earth and facing our everyday ordeals. Some of us are still finding our purpose. Some of us have been lucky enough to find that thing that gives our life meaning. It may be volunteering, doing a particular job, travelling, researching, serving your country, or what have you.

Now, when it comes to giving meaning to your life, some people find it when they are living their life for others. This means doing good deeds for others like the afore-mentioned volunteer work, or working with non-profit/charity organisations. Or maybe it could be something small like helping people in the neighbourhood or helping to spread awareness for a cause.

But there is an argument that you shouldn’t live solely for others, that there are times you should think about yourself and your own life, after all don’t you deserve some help too?

So the question for this post is, does living your life for others only, really give your life meaning?

Well let’s take a look at both sides of the argument.

You should live for yourself

You only have one life while you are on this earth, no matter how hard you try no one else can live it for you; so you should live it yourself. While it is good to help people out, you shouldn’t  sacrifice yourself completely while you’re doing it. Don’t you deserve a taste at life and living it yourself?

Sometimes it could be seen as running away from your own problems. You can’t solve your own problems so instead you drown yourself in solving other people’s problems, which can turn into a vicious cycle because it could lead to more problems for yourself. Plus, you;re leaving your own problems to fester until they become something so big that they can’t be solved anymore. The messier your own life gets, the more you will run away from it by helping others!

You should live for others

Living for others can be very rewarding. The happiness you bring to them, helping them out when they really need it, that feeling is not like any other. Not to mention, by helping out others you are enriching yourself even if it is just a little. You get to experience something new and maybe make some unlikely friends while you’re at it.

Also, depending on what you do and how you are helping people, you could end up going to places you have never been to before and see another side of the world you never knew existed. You could say that it feeds your soul.

So after looking at these two viewpoints, what is the answer to the question: does living your life for others give your life meaning?

Well my disappointing answer is that it is all up to you. Maybe it doesn’t always give meaning, but sometimes it does too. You may find meaning in religion or trecking or mountaineering or deep sea diving, something you are doing just for yourself! Or you might get a high from helping a blind man cross the road. You have to figure out for yourself whether you’re doing it for the right reasons.

There’s nothing wrong with helping someone out every now and then. Just make sure you’re helping yourself as well, you deserve to live your life too, after all.

Well that’s it for this post, I hope you liked it and I hope you have a good day ahead.