What is your purpose?
A sense of purpose improves our emotional, behavioral, and physical well-being.
It profoundly affects our sense of fulfillment and longevity.
So, what is your purpose?
It’s the end of July, mid-summer. With half of the year over and the second half on the horizon, It’s the perfect time to reflect and ask, “What is my purpose?”
When I first asked myself this question, it was the end of July after graduating from college and struggling to land a teaching position. I took a step back from my job pursuit and assessed my values and goals. I broadened my perspective and redefined my purpose, leading me down a different professional path. As Robert Frost wrote, “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
Multifaceted Benefits of Purpose
A strong sense of purpose has a variety of benefits beyond shifting professional aspirations. A strong sense of purpose improves our emotional, behavioral, and physical well-being. It profoundly affects our sense of fulfillment and longevity. These advantages are well-documented in research literature, highlighting the role of purpose in fostering a long and flourishing life.
Emotional Well-being
A robust sense of purpose is linked to enhanced emotional well-being. Studies show that daily fluctuations in a person’s sense of purpose predict their emotional well-being on a day-to-day basis. Purpose significantly contributes to overall life satisfaction, increased happiness, and a more positive outlook (Pfund, Burrow, & Hill, 2024; McKnight & Kasdan, 2009).
Purpose acts as a significant protective factor against mental health challenges. Research consistently demonstrates that people with a sense of purpose experience lower levels of depression and anxiety, improved stress management, emotional regulation, and recovery from negative or stressful stimuli (Nygren, Aléx, Jonsén, Gustafson, Norberg, & Lundman, 2005; Pfund, Burrow, & Hill, 2024).
A strong sense of purpose provides a meaningful framework for navigating life's challenges and enhancing our capacity to cope more effectively with stress and emotional challenges. The relationship between purpose and emotional well-being creates a positive feedback loop. While purpose leads to greater happiness and satisfaction, feeling happier can, in turn, make it easier for us to perceive and find meaning in life events. Emotional well-being can be both an outcome of purpose and a catalyst for its development or strengthening. This synergistic effect fosters a sense of purpose by enhancing active engagement, a future-oriented outlook, and cognitive reframing of negative experiences (McKnight & Kasdan, 2009).
Physical Health and Longevity
Research also shows that a strong sense of purpose tends to lead to living longer and having a significantly lower risk of mortality. A 2022 study by Koichiro Shiba and colleagues found that older adults with the highest sense of purpose experienced a 46% lower risk of mortality over four years compared to those with the lowest scores. The study analyzed data from over 13,000 U.S. adults aged 50 and older participating in the Health and Retirement Study. The protective effect of purpose was nearly 1.8 times as effective as not smoking or engaging in physical activity (Shiba, Kubzansky, Williams, VanderWeele, & Kim, 2022).
Further, purpose is identified as a more robust and independent predictor of longevity compared to general life satisfaction, holding true across various demographics and pre-existing health risks. Purpose is associated with a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases, including cardiovascular issues, hypertension, and dementia. It also serves as a significant protective factor against age-related cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and the incidence of dementia (Shiba, Kubzansky, Williams, VanderWeele, & Kim, 2022).
A key mechanism linking purpose to physical health is its influence on behavior. Purposeful individuals are more inclined to make intentional lifestyle choices, such as consistently engaging in regular exercise, maintaining healthy eating habits, ensuring sufficient sleep, and reducing alcohol consumption. They are more likely to seek preventative health services and proactively address health issues when they arise. The strong connection between purpose and healthier lifestyle choices suggests that purpose is not merely a passive outcome of good health, but an active, internal motivator that drives us to adopt and maintain health-promoting behaviors. Purpose provides intrinsic motivation to overcome inertia and make choices that benefit long-term health (Hill, Edmonds, & Hampson, 2019; Kim, Shiba, Boehm, & Kubzansky, 2020).
Purpose appears to impact more than conscious health behaviors; it influences biological aging. Recent studies indicate that people with higher purpose scores show reduced epigenetic aging, which refers to molecular changes, such as reduced inflammation and even slowed cellular aging that reflect biological age, distinct from chronological age (Drevitch, G, 2025). This suggests that purpose is not just influencing emotional well-being and healthy behaviors but directly impacts fundamental biological mechanisms at the cellular level, offering a deeper explanation for its profound effects on disease prevention and longevity.
So, with all these benefits of a strong sense of purpose,
What is your purpose?