Rediscovering One’s Purpose, and the Power of Passion

Peer reviewed by Dr. Valena Wright, MD

Lately I’ve been thinking about the power of purpose, not as a lofty ideal, but as the daily anchor that defines our “dance with life,” shapes our walk, and influences how we move through challenging times. When we lose that anchor (especially our “why”), the current can pull us off course and likely into the rocks.

At different times through my career, I’ve lost my footing, drifted from a purpose but fortunately seemed to always find a way back (sometimes the way back was longer than it should have been). This article provides insights on why one should explore reconnecting with one's purpose when we lose a solid footing. Why pairing purpose with passion is so powerful, and how it makes profound differences not only in our work, but in our brain (wiring and hormones), physical health (chilling), and overall well-being.

The Power of Purpose Amidst Challenge

When times are difficult, certain thoughts can invade our thinking: “Why am I doing this?” or “Does it matter?”
A remarkable thought leader in the psychology of purpose, Viktor Frankl, offers a guiding light.

In Man’s Search for Meaning, he wrote:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms...
to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” [1]

And:

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.” [1]

Frankl reminds us that even in the darkest circumstances, once we identify a why, the how becomes bearable.
For educators, your “why” has always been there. Supporting young people. Shaping futures. Creating spaces of hope, stability, and possibility.

Purpose is not something we invent; it’s something we return to.

Why Passion for Purpose Matters, From Brain to Body

As a physician, I’m drawn not only to the narrative and existential side of purpose, but also to the body of neuroscience and mind-body evidence that our sense of purpose has measurable, biological effects.

A high sense of “purpose in life” is often defined as goal-directedness, intentionality, and a felt sense that life is meaningful that is consistently linked to better mental health, lower depressive symptoms, improved sleep, and higher life satisfaction in the literature [2].

Longitudinal cohort work (following individuals over years) shows remarkable associations between purpose and brain health. For example, older-adult research found that those scoring high on leading a purpose-driven life were about 2.4 times more likely to remain free of Alzheimer’s disease compared with those scoring low [3].

More broadly, leading a purpose-driven life is associated with lower mortality and better long-term health outcomes in multiple large samples, suggesting benefits that extend beyond mood into physical resilience [4].

Even the brain structurally changes: Neuroimaging and functional-connectivity studies indicate that people who report greater meaning show more efficient connectivity in brain networks involved in self-reflection and emotion regulation and are less reactive to stressors [5].

Purpose also affects the body: People with a stronger sense of purpose tend to have lower inflammation, including healthier cortisol (stress hormone) levels and fewer inflammatory markers linked to disease, with improved cardiovascular markers, reduced stroke risk, and lower overall all-case mortality, effects that are meaningful for professionals under chronic stress [6].

In short: Purpose + passion functions as a multi-level resilience factor, shaping how we think (brain networks), how we feel (emotion regulation), and how we age (cardio-metabolic and cognitive outcomes).

A Critical, Evidence-Aware Note

I want to be intellectually honest about what the research can and cannot say. Most of the large, influential studies on purpose are “observational": they show consistent associations, not definitive causation. That means some of the apparent benefits of living a purpose-driven life might be the result of other things that confound or make the results better, because of their presence such as those with purpose may have better social support, education, or baseline healthy lifestyle behaviors [7].

At the same time, the consistency of findings across different cohorts, diverse settings, and outcomes strengthens the plausibility (likelihood) that having purpose independently matters, it is the most important factor. Emerging intervention studies and psychological programs that build meaning are beginning to test whether increasing purpose improves health and resilience, this intervention literature is still young but promising [8].

In Summary: Research strongly links having purpose with better mental and physical health in many studies, though most are observational. The promising pattern means it’s worth prioritizing practical steps to reconnect to what matters, while recognizing this is not a magic cure.

My Own Journey: Losing Footing, Finding Purpose

There are times when life feels especially challenging. Sometimes it’s not that the load has actually gotten heavier, but that our attention becomes fixed on how heavy it feels. When we focus on the weight, everything can start to feel overwhelming and our footing feels less certain. In moments like these, we still have one place where we hold real agency.

Frankl reminds us that the deepest human freedom is:

“…to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” [1]

This is where we begin, not by changing everything around us, but by pausing, taking time to rediscover and reconnect to our purpose, and that steadies us and helps us move forward with intention.

Sharing something personal.

There was a period when I drifted from my own “why.” The demands in my world were piling up, and for a period, a bit overwhelmed, I lost sight of the deeper purpose that drew me into why I am here in this world. During that time, I struggled going through the motions. (Anyone else ever feel that way??)

You chose education for a reason. Something called you to this work, something meaningful, human, hopeful. That purpose hasn’t disappeared. What’s happening around you cannot erase the reason you stepped into this vocation. But all that stuff can only make it harder to see.

We all have mornings when things feel heavy or unclear. It is a natural response to the experiences and pressures many of us carry. In those moments, a simple ritual can help shift the mind. Stand at the mirror, offer yourself a small smile, and say your purpose out loud. Hear the words. Watch yourself speak the words. This small act begins to shift the brain in powerful ways, as neuroscience shows.

From a neuroscience perspective, this practice is more than symbolic:

Speaking aloud something tied to your identity activates self-referential brain networks in the medial prefrontal cortex, strengthening intentionality and goal-directed circuits [5].
Seeing yourself speak recruits the mirror neuron system and visual networks, reinforcing the message at an embodied level.
Smiling, even intentionally, engages parasympathetic activity, nudging the nervous system away from stress and toward regulation.

Over time, such repeated cues help the brain reinforce positive patterns of thought, emotional regulation, and readiness to act.

The Roadmap to Resetting

Revisit your original “why.” You chose education for a reason; that reason still lives in you.
Let purpose be your anchor, not the circumstances around you. Purpose guides your response when the world is noisy.
Name your purpose clearly. Try putting it in a sentence: “I am here to…” Revisit it on heavier days.
Let passion fuel the purpose. Passion is the energy that directs meaning into action.
Recognize the unique twist you bring. Your blend of experience, values, intuition, and humanity is unmatched.
Be gentle with yourself. Purpose isn’t static, it is rediscovered season by season.
Use small rituals (mirror, mantra, reflection) to reconnect daily to what matters.

In Closing

You are doing essential work. Your purpose matters, not just to students and families, but to your own well-being.

When you reconnect to your why, when you let passion fuel it, something shifts:
you move from simply enduring the day to inhabiting it with meaning.

You regain your footing. Your work becomes alive again.

And that dance, your dance with life, becomes uniquely yours once more.

Reference:

Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 2006 edition.
Ryff, C. D. (2014). Psychological Well-Being Revisited: Advances in the Science and Practice of Eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83(1), 10–28.
Boyle, P. A., et al. (2009). Purpose in Life Is Associated With a Reduced Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease Among Older Persons. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66(4), 419–426.
Hill, P. L., & Turiano, N. A. (2014). Purpose in Life as a Predictor of Mortality Across Adulthood. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1482–1486.
Waytz, A., & Hershfield, H. (2014). A Neural Mechanism for Meaning in Life. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(5), 728–733.
Kim, E. S., et al. (2013). Purpose in Life and Reduced Risk of Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 74(5), 427–432.
Pekala, K. A., et al. (2020). Meaning in Life: Limitations of Observational Studies. Behavioral Sciences, 10(6), 91.
Rozanski, A. (2014). Psychosocial Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Disease: Challenges of Causality. Circulation, 130(19), 1622–1630.