On Living with Purpose

What Makes You Come Alive?

When it comes to thriving in life, whether in my personal growth journey or career, the one question I consistently ask myself is: What makes me come alive? Or, put differently, What makes me truly aware of my own existence?

It is surprisingly easy to drift through life on autopilot. We follow a script. We play by the rules. We listen to the voices passed down through generations. Voices that mean well, but often echo limitations instead of possibilities. And if we do not pause to question those voices, we risk spending years, sometimes our whole lives, chasing a version of success that does not align with who we really are.

Are those paths, the traditional, familiar, parent-approved ones, truly yours? Or are they just safe trails, neatly laid out to help you arrive at a predictable destination? A destination that may look successful on the outside but feels misaligned on the inside?

Let us break this down and make it real.

As an immigrant from a developing country, you probably already know the career script. Choices? Very limited. Let me guess—you thought lawyer, doctor, accountant, or engineer. If you did, you are not wrong. That is exactly what was expected. Those were the careers that were praised and prioritized. Even if those paths did not help you discover your passion or activate your full potential, you were still expected to pursue them. It was more about survival than purpose. Prestige over passion.

I was on the road to medical school. But as my ancestors, or universe, or God, will have it, I got rejected, front, left, right, and center.

At the time, I was disappointed. But that rejection led to redirection. I pivoted into a PhD in biomedical sciences, not because I wanted to treat diseases, but because I was fascinated by how the human body works. Biology felt like poetry to me. The molecular choreography, the cellular conversations. I was hooked.

And here is where the story takes another turn. While pursuing my PhD, I discovered something else—I love to write. I spend a lot of time in my head, so offloading my thoughts onto the page is not just therapeutic, it is grounding. Writing makes me feel present. Writing brings me alive.

I think, therefore I am? For me, it is I write, therefore I am.

For you, it might be I teach, therefore I am.
For someone else, it may be I sing, therefore I am or I analyze data, therefore I am.
Yes, even crunching numbers can make someone feel alive. (I used to roll my eyes at that too. Numbers? Seriously? But now I get it.)

The truth is, when you find the thing that lights you up, you will thrive in it. That is the secret to living with purpose. You need to know what makes you come alive and then align your life around that purpose.

But what happens when you are feeling unmotivated, stuck, or tired of the daily grind? What happens when you say, “I do not feel like waking up early,” or “I do not feel like exercising,” or “I cannot focus today”?

Here is a game-changing mindset: connect your habits to your passion.

For me, that passion is writing. So I frame every important habit as something that supports it.
I exercise to have the energy and mental clarity to write.
I organize my space so I can think clearly and write better.
I wake up earlier so I can have uninterrupted time to write.

This mindset shift is the beginning of building better habits that actually stick. You stop forcing productivity and start building routines that fuel your purpose. The ordinary becomes meaningful. The routine becomes intentional. Everything starts to work together because it is all serving what matters most.

This takes mental practice. A bit of reframing. But just like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes. Eventually, it becomes second nature. You do not have to chase motivation because your life is aligned with what you care about.

So today, I am passing the mic to you.
What makes you come alive?

Do not overthink it. Start small. Identify that one thing that makes your heart beat a little faster. That thing that sparks curiosity or calm or excitement. Then link your daily habits to it. Every small effort you make in that direction builds momentum.

That is the beginning of personal transformation.
That is how you thrive.