“The purpose of life, as far as I can tell… is to find a mode of being that's so meaningful that the fact that life is suffering is no longer relevant.” - Jordan B. Peterson

In the process of getting my certification as a Precision Nutrition Coach, we learned that health is not only a physical thing: it's multi-dimensional.

Health can go beyond the physical and into the mental, emotional, existential, relational, and more.

One of my favorites that I am currently prioritizing is the existential. What am I here for? What is my purpose?

To some of us might seem "woo-woo", but it's because we can't exactly quantify our consciousness.

Essentially, our consciousness can't be measured directly.

While the concept of the existential can be very abstract, psychological studies have gone into the importance of meaning for our overall mental health.

And more recently, psychological studies have been exploring exercise and it's importance in discovering or pursuing meaning.

We will be discussing this in this post.

Let's get after it!

Finding Meaning Through Exercise

You can watch our video on the topic above and read below.

Research in 2021 has found that there is a bidirectional relationship between a sense of purpose (meaning) and physical activity.

This means the following:

1. Those who have meaning in their lives typically exercise regularly. I can assume this is because we desire to fulfill that meaning... and this requires us to pursue longevity and growth.
2. Those who start exercising can improve their sense of meaning. Exercise can help you find meaning in your life, through the focus on improving yourself.

For those who are in their late teens and early 20's, you are starting to carve out an identity for yourself.

Exercise can help you discover that, as it did for me.

Exercise And My Personal Sense Of Purpose

I resonate with the bidirectional relationship between exercise and meaning. The first one is currently where I am at today, but the second one is how I got started.

In my late teens, I was overweight, depressed, and unhappy. I had sleep insomnia, and most notably an existential void in my life.

This lack of meaning made me contemplate suicide regularly. I didn't know what I wanted to do, who to become, what the meaning of life was.

Puberty hits us hard - physically, mentally, and existentially.

When I started exercising, things started to change.

I noticed the mental improvements before the physical, so I kept going.

I started to work towards something.

My body started to change.

I started to feel good.

I started to care about my life, my education, my career path, and more.

I realized that I needed to pursue entrepreneurship because I could help many with it.

While my purpose changed constantly overtime, I am here today writing this to help those improve their mental AND existential health through exercise.

Movement Has Meaning

I truly believe that movement has meaning.

And today, research is starting to show it to be so.

In the pursuit of finding meaning in your life, some will state that your meaning in life can be found in your upbringing.

I can see that.

I can also see that it comes from the path of self-discovery.

A lot of people do this through creation.

And creation requires struggle.

But that struggle is rewarding, because it makes you better... and it can help define you.

I believe the easiest way to do this is through exercise.

You can do exercise anywhere - challenge yourself anywhere.

In fact, we can help you with this through our free 30 day LIFT Your Morning Mood Course.

You can join the course here.

Movement has meaning. Get yours.

Until next time, Reforged Warrior!