How Connecting to Your Purpose Can Transform YOU and Your Writing

by Rochelle Melander

When the world is in crisis—it’s important to get connected to your why.

Twice a week, Heather Cox Richardson, closes her Politics Chat by encouraging people to find their purpose and act. Often, she recommends that people make art.

Today, writers are taking to their blogs, YouTube, and many other places to witness to what’s happening politically and protest injustice.

But we’re not the first people to look at the world and think, “We need to do something!”

How Purpose Transformed James Baldwin’s Life

James Baldwin did some of his best writing when he saw how much it mattered. While living in Europe, he learned of the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was visiting Money, Mississippi in August 1955. Baldwin knew he needed to return and bear witness to what was happening to his people. He would eventually write the play Blues for Mr. Charlie about the event.

Baldwin returned home to cover the Civil Rights movement. He defined his purpose as “to bear witness to the truth.” As a result, Baldwin wrote some of his best pieces, including The Fire Next Time. In this book, Baldwin writes a powerful letter to his nephew on the 100^th anniversary of emancipation.

Baldwin had a big why for this collection of essays: Educate white Americans on the experience of being Black in America. He wanted white Americans to see what his life was like. But he also wanted them to understand how Black people saw white Americans. In an interview with the New York Times, novelist and essayist James Baldwin said this about why he wrote:

You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can’t, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world… The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”
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Henry Louis Gates, Jr. said that Baldwin had ”educated an entire generation of Americans about the civil-rights struggle and the sensibility of Afro-Americans as we faced and conquered the final barriers in our long quest for civil rights.”

Does fear hold you back?

Purpose has a way of upending your life. James Baldwin left a good life in France to return to the United States and join the fight for Civil Rights. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a young minister when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus. King offered his church to organizers, and they elected him the chairperson.

Whenever we set out to do something big, like fight fascism with our art, we may feel fear. Our amygdala freaks out: why would you write a book? Paint a mural? Compose a symphony? What will people think? What if it’s no good?

Rather than push forward, we procrastinate. We feel overwhelmed, so we don’t create anything. Maybe we look for a new project to work on. Or imagine a new computer program or notebook might help us write more easily.

A hearty dose of purpose to the rescue! Studies demonstrate that people who have a strong sense of purpose experience lower levels of anxiety and depression. When we have a strong sense of purpose, like James Baldwin had, we can more easily navigate life’s challenges. We become better able to endure stress. We are more resilient. Audre Lorde put it like this: “When I dare to be powerful—to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

How do you find your purpose?

Fredrick Buechner wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

If you would like to reflect on your sense of purpose, your big “WHY” in the face of current adversity, think about two things. First, think about the places you experience deep gladness. What creative, physical, or spiritual activities bring you joy? Second, consider the things in the world you care about. What places in the world need you and your gift right now?

TL; DR

• James Baldwin did some of his best writing AFTER he connected to his purpose, including The Fire Next Time.
• People with a strong sense of purpose experience lower levels of anxiety and depression. They more easily navigate challenges and endure stress.
• Use the Fredrick Buechner quote to guide you in finding your purpose, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”