Purpose in Life?

by Charity

What is my/our purpose in life?  I don't know.  I don't see one.  I've never seen one.

Some people, especially those living with depression and other mental-health issues, might answer that their children or their pets give them a reason to live.  This isn't what I'm wondering about.  What I want to know is why we're here, not what keeps us here.

Some belief systems state that the purpose of life is to glorify whatever supreme entity that exists at the center of those beliefs.  This may work for people who share those beliefs and agree with that stated purpose.  But what about people who don't share those beliefs?

I don't know what I believe.  I don't know why I'm here, why we as a collective are here.  We've never had any real goals in life; all we've ever focused on is getting through the day, or getting through the school year, or getting through adolescence so that we would have the freedom that supposedly came with adulthood.

But adulthood didn't bring any real freedom.  It only brought more obligation.  And getting through the day just kept us coasting through life, showing up, but never having any real direction.

I'm tired of feeling like a pawn in someone else's chess game.  I want this life to be ours.  I want to believe, accurately so, that we have real choices, that we're really empowered to set our own course.  I feel like a fool for wanting these things, but the only other choice I see is to continue an existence of misery.  And that's one thing I definitely don't want.