We Can Find A Deeper Meaning In Life

We can come out on the other side of this setback with more dignity, a higher purpose, and, most of all, a better understanding of who we want to become. 

April 02, 2020

In the coming weeks, we will face the harshest realities of this awful disease. More will be infected, more lives lost, and our tolerance to continue will be challenged. We then begin to ask fundamental questions of ourselves: What meaning does this life have?  What is our purpose? How can we have a purpose when we're quarantined? 

John William Gardner former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) under President Lyndon Johnson was a thoughtful man and a deep thinker. Gardner was a Marine Corps officer, then a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Air Force, and in business as the Director of Shell Oil, American Airlines, and Time Inc.  He also had a career in public service working for President Johnson and President Ronald Reagan.   

Throughout his illustrious career, Gardner frequently asked the question about the meaning of our life. In a speech he gave to the Hawaii Executive Conference in April of 1993, Gardner told the story of receiving a letter from a father in Colorado, whose daughter had been killed in an automobile accident. When they found her personal belongings, in her wallet was the following written by Gardner:

“Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.”

In the letter, the young lady's father wrote to Gardner and thanked him for his words. The fact she kept these close to her told him something he might not otherwise have known about her values and concerns. 

These words can help us all as we navigate the next two weeks and confront the various challenges of defeating this pandemic. But we can find a deeper meaning in our life. We can come out on the other side of this setback with more dignity, a higher purpose, and, most of all, a better understanding of who we want to become. 

P.S. If you are in search of a book recommendation, our team at The Daily Coach highly recommends Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead. 

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