How to Restore Purpose and Meaning
Original Medium Post HERE
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Full interview available now on Youtube
“About three in five, 58% of folks said they had little or no meaning or purpose in their lives. And that’s, you know, that’s sort of a feeling of alienation, dysphoria, lack of direction.”
Recently, Carolina Espinoza and Justin Pasquariello of East Boston Social Centers caught up with Prof. Rick Weissbourd, Senior Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and one of the leading thinkers on moral development and adolescent and young adult mental health, the founder/ co-founder of several hugely impactful initiatives, and widely acclaimed author. This wide-ranging conversation will inform our strategy to increase community joy and support our children. We hope it will help you too in your pursuit of a life of purpose and connection. Thank you again to Prof. Weissbourd for your work — and for taking this time with us!
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Prof. Weissbourd, you have accomplished a great deal and supported many people. In your brief bio, what would you highlight as being the work that feels most important to you? And what led you to that work?
I’ve been on the faculty here at the Ed School {Harvard Graduate School of Education} for over 30 years. I also teach at the Harvard Kennedy School. I’m a psychologist and I’m the faculty director of Making Caring Common (MCC), which is about raising kids who care about others, care about the common good, and care about justice.
I feel very lucky in my career that I’ve gotten to do a lot of things. And a lot of things are very gratifying and meaningful for me.
Early in my career, I was a therapist working at community mental health centers. And, you know, when you feel like you’re really helping somebody turn a corner, that’s a wonderful and very gratifying feeling. I started a school in Dorchester. I worked with Mayor Menino as an education advisor. I started ReadBoston and WriteBoston. We did some very good work.
And now most of my work has been on moral development and mental health. I wrote a couple books about moral development and mental health. I feel like in some respects, these books and MCC’s reports have changed many people’s thinking about issues that I really care about a lot, so that’s been very gratifying as well.
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Purpose is one of our five pillars of our community joy work. Your recent report “On Edge: Understanding and Preventing Young Adults’ Mental Health Challenges” found that “Nearly 3 in 5 young adults (58%) reported that they lacked “meaning or purpose” in their lives in the previous month.” Can you tell us more about trends in sense of purpose over time?
Just a couple of quick thoughts about purpose: I think sometimes people think that they should have a single purpose, like a calling or a mission. And if they burrow deeply enough in themselves, they’ll find out what their purpose is. But only about 15% — this is Bill Damon’s research at Stanford — only about 15% of young people have that kind of single organizing purpose that powers their lives and focuses their lives. And people can feel deficient because they don’t have that sense of purpose.
What was distressing in our data is that we were asking not just about purpose, but about meaning. Do you have purpose and meaning in your life? And as you said, about three in five, 58% of folks said they had little or no meaning or purpose in their lives. And that’s, you know, that’s sort of a feeling of alienation, dystopia, lack of direction. A lot of people also talk about feeling rudderless, not knowing what to do with their lives or their next step. And it was concerning that that rate was that high.
We don’t have longitudinal research. I don’t know about 20 years, 30 years ago. I do know anxiety and depression have gone up over the last 40 years. I expect lack of purpose has gone up too because it correlates so strongly with both anxiety and with depression.
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What do you see as root causes? If you were leading work to increase a sense of meaning and purpose across a community, what might you prioritize?
I think there are many different causes. You know, I think one cause is that people are having families later, so there’s a longer period between your family of origin and the family you create. And having children gives people meaning.
I think for a lot of people, the workplace is not a place where they find meaning anymore. And when we ask where you find purpose and meaning, only about 5% of people mentioned work. Work for many people is very transactional. It’s not about finding meaning and purpose.
I think the amount of financial pressure and achievement pressure that many young people feel continues to rise. This comes up in our data and oftentimes crowds out meaning and purpose. It’s very much about financial security, financial survival. I think that’s a factor.
I think social media turbocharges all of this. And loneliness turbocharges it. And we have both loneliness and social media that can make people feel a sense of emptiness or meaninglessness that I think affects this.
And there’s also been a decline in religion and religious participation. We’re not making the case in our report that we should suddenly become more religious. But we are saying there are things about religious communities that create meaning and purpose.
There are communities of adults who stand for important values. There are rituals of gratitude that provide meaning. There are structures for dealing with grief and loss that can provide meaning for people. There’s a sense that you’re a part of a larger humanity, and often that you have a purpose and meaning on this earth that’s religiously ordained. And again, we’re not saying people should become more religious, but we should think about these aspects of religious life and how we can recreate them in secular life. So that’s one of the prescriptions that we have.
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This is the first post of two featuring our interview with Prof. Weissbourd. Stay tuned for the second where we will examine strategies to reverse the epidemic of increased loneliness — and we will learn what brings Prof. Weissbourd joy.
This is the 43rd post about boosting joy the only way we can: in community. Please share, subscribe, and join our movement by emailing me or supporting East Boston Social Centers. Stay joyful, East Boston.
Prof. Rick Weissbourd