Personal fulfillment is one of those buzzwords we throw around on our Instagram feeds and YouTube videos. So many so-called authors and speakers claim to have found ‘the hack’ to living a fulfilled life, and then they go on a tirade of many seemingly unattainable tasks for you. But the truth is personal fulfillment is a journey that neither starts nor ends with a hack.
In a world where cultural and social borders are fast disappearing, it is easy to get caught up in a web of multiple expectations that are neither here nor there, forcing you to live your life on autopilot without ever stopping to reflect on what matters to you and how you can achieve it. This blog post will explore personal fulfillment, why it matters and how individuals can build a fulfilling life for themselves.
What is personal fulfillment, and why is it important?
Personal fulfillment is the feeling of self-satisfaction that comes from having achieved your own personal goals and aspirations. Personal fulfillment comes from personal growth and self-development that pushes a person to build a life of which they are proud.
Finding fulfillment in whatever you do is important to develop a true sense of worth for yourself and help you live a purposeful life that benefits others. Personal fulfillment can help a person create positive experiences that can have positive mental, emotional and even physiological effects.
How to find personal fulfillment
Personal fulfillment is what gives our lives meaning and purpose, and without it we can feel lost and adrift. But what does it mean to find personal fulfillment, and how do we go about achieving it? Here are some ways:
- Surround yourself with positivity: Sometimes, many people are stuck living their lives in a way that does not motivate them because they are surrounded by negativity. Negativity could be from the people you spend the most time with or those who influence you.
Self-fulfillment is largely dependent on self-motivation, and you cannot achieve self-motivation if the people around you are putting you down or are stuck in their own old cycles and do not feel the need to change. Also, you can absorb a lot of negativity from what you expose yourself to in terms of technology, entertainment and social media. Carefully curate your choices and audit your social media to reflect your core values as a person.
- Get comfortable with discomfort, but envision the future: Change is difficult and uncomfortable. Building a fulfilled life involves changing your old habits and breaking away from negative traits that would keep you from living your dream life. You must seek comfort in this fact and just go with the flow. However, seeking comfort in your current discomfort should not make you lose sight of the future you are trying to build for yourself. Always envision success. However, be careful not to see success as a destination. Success can be found at any point in your self-fulfillment journey.
- Always live your best life: As a follow-up to the last point, you must always try to live your best life. Your best life is the lifestyle that brings you the most happiness and fulfillment within your current circumstances. Maybe you do not have the money to take that trip to Europe you have always wanted; you can take a shorter and cheaper trip and find joy in it instead of waiting until you have a certain amount of cash to make memories and be happy. Self-fulfillment is not a magical destination that will give you all the joy in the world when you finally get there. You can live a fulfilled life now.
- Never stop learning: Living a life of self-fulfillment involves self-development and personal growth in all aspects of your life. From your professional life to your personal and spiritual life. Acquiring new skills and building on old ones can help you develop as a well-rounded member of society. Thankfully, institutionalized learning programs based on the Christian educational philosophy have integrated faith into education and can help one gain professional, personal and spiritual fulfillment through education.
- Celebrate your accomplishments: Learning to celebrate your little wins and taking time to reflect and take pride in your accomplishments can also help you build a fulfilled life. In a world designed mostly for highlighting only the best parts of your life, it is easy to constantly compare yourself to others and not be able to find joy in your accomplishments because it does not look like what the next person is celebrating. But you must realize that it is called personal fulfillment for a reason. It is all about you; your accomplishments are personal to you.
- Take charge of your life: We all have self-limiting beliefs or self-destructing habits for which we do not like to take responsibility. Taking responsibility for your life and not being overly reliant on other people’s input in your life will help you learn how to make the most of your life and live your life on your own terms. However, do not be blind to honest criticism and always self-evaluate for growth.
- Help others: Helping other people in their lives creates a sense of deep purpose and fulfillment. Helping people find happiness, creating succor and just being there as a helper whenever needed is not only helpful to the people on the receiving end of the help but also to you. Helping others is a deeply satisfying act of love that many ignore because they erroneously see rendering help as taking away from them.
- Heal and forgive yourself and others: Childhood traumas and old hurts can continue to impact our lives negatively if we do not try to heal and forgive. Healing from trauma is emotionally taxing, but going through your healing journey will undoubtedly make you a better person. Holding on to the pain that we have experienced from other people will keep you from focusing on yourself and being the best version of yourself for the life you want to build.
- Practice self-care: Self-care is another important tip for living a more fulfilled life. You must actively protect your mental and physical health by embracing healthy habits that will improve you in the long run. Forming new habits, such as exercising, meditating, reading, eating and sleeping healthy, helps you feel much better and self-motivated for growth.
- Set realistic expectations: Constant disappointments can quickly lead to frustration and can cause you to stop working hard on your goals and aspirations. Setting realistic expectations of yourself based on your current circumstances, on the other hand, will give you a sense of accomplishment at every point you overcome your own expectations. However, do not sell yourself short by setting the bar too low for yourself.
Components of personal fulfillment
Your journey to living a fulfilled life will not be a linear, predictable journey. It would look like different things at different seasons of your life. Here are some of the components of self-fulfillment you may experience in your journey.
- Consciousness: A person on a journey of self-fulfillment has an acute sense of awareness and a keen understanding of their own personality. They are aware of their strengths and weaknesses and are taking steps to manage them properly for optimal growth.
- Change: Self-fulfillment comes with a lot of changes in your lifestyle and mindset. To start on a journey of self-fulfillment, you must experience change. No matter how small, your routine must change to accommodate new healthy habits.
- Acceptance: Self-fulfillment comes with a lot of acceptance. Accepting who you are at the core and accepting situations that you cannot change will help you live a more fulfilled life. It might be a little difficult to reach a point of acceptance; sometimes, we just want things to improve and change for the better, but the price to pay might be too high.
- Joy and Excitement: A lot of excitement comes with changing yourself and working on your personality and values. This, in turn, brings you some joy at the moment. Setting new tasks and goals for yourself and taking steps on them gives you a sense of purpose.
- Meaningfulness: Self-fulfillment involves helping other people out and helping them live better lives. This, in turn, gives your life a new meaning outside of the meaning that your own life goals and aspirations give you. A self-fulfilled life is meaningful.
- Ambition: Another key component of a self-fulfilled life is ambition. Ambition is an intense desire to achieve something. When you have a healthy ambition, working hard on building your life and achieving your goals becomes much easier.
- Momentariness: Living in the moment and enjoying every bit of life is a key part of a self-fulfilled life. You learn to enjoy every moment of your life and stay happy and enjoy the process of working on yourself.
With all the distractions of daily life, it isn’t easy to live in the moment and stay focused on your personal goals and aspirations. Our society constantly evolves, and with societal evolution comes new expectations of the individual. Following the above tips and constantly evaluating your life at every stage will help you grow into a happier person and live a more fulfilled life.
