Find Your Purpose

Find Your Purpose

Have you seen the movie City Slickers, starring Billy Crystal as Mitch and Jack Palance as Curly? There is a section of significant dialogue in this hilarious comedy. Mitch has joined two other friends who come from the city to spend a couple of weeks driving a herd of cattle across the range on horseback. They all are experiencing midlife meltdowns in one form or another. These “city slickers” clearly have no idea what they are doing, and Curly, a shrewd cowboy, is their guide. As they are riding along the range, he gives Mitch some sage advice:

Curly: Yeah. You all come out here about the same age. Same problems. Spend fifty weeks a year getting knots in your rope, then you think two weeks up here will untie them for you. None of you get it. Long pause. Do you know what the secret of life is?

Mitch: No, what?

Curly: This. Holds up an index finger.

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: Shakes his head. One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean s***.

Mitch: That’s great, but what’s the one thing?

Curly: That’s what you’ve got to figure out.

Here are some questions to help you figure it out.

• What is my passion?
• What in my life has gone unattended or uncultivated?
• What’s next?

What will my second half look like:

• In my marriage (if married)?
• In my relationships with my adult children?
• In my vocation?
• In my faith and faith community?
• In my friendships and replenishing relationships?

And finally:

• What do I need to give up to make progress?