Volume 02, Issue 04: What Drives Your Life?

Everyone is driven by something. We hardly stop to consider how constructive the things that drive our lives are. What is the driving force in your life? Let’s consider some of them.

Material possessions: Here, the desire to acquire things is the whole objective of life. The drive to always want more is based on the fallacy that having more will make you happier, more significant, and secure. However, possessions only provide temporary fulfillment. Self-worth and net worth are two different things.

The problem with acquiring more and more material possessions is that many are still left feeling empty, wondering what the true purpose of life is, and what is good in the midst of all the getting.

The most valuable things in life are not things. You never get enough of what you don’t really need to make you happy. Ultimately, no form of acquisition can lastingly deliver what we long for – the authentic idea of being fully alive.

Fear: Fear-driven people often miss great opportunities because they are afraid to try out anything they haven’t done before. They play it safe. They tip toe through life, make the fewest of mistakes, take the least of risks, and fail to reflect on the consequences of their action-less lives. Doing what you fear is the surest way to overcome your fear.

Anger and bitterness: This category of people hold on to hurts and refuse to get over them. This is a grave disservice to themselves because resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent. Your past is just that, past. Nothing will change it. For your own sake, learn from it, and then let go of it. Do not be consumed by your pain, rather embrace and squeeze life out of it and move on.

The need for approval: These people allow the expectations of significant others to control their lives. Others still are driven by peer pressure, always concerned by what their peers think of them.

Guilt: Guilt-driven people allow their past mistakes to control their future. We are a product of our past, but we don’t have to be captives of it. In spite of your past, embrace a fresh start and live in the present. Don’t allow a wandering mind to rob you of the present pleasures of life.

Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them. Without a purpose, life is activity without meaning, movement without direction, and events without reason.

Lillian Chebosi