A Person With a Purpose Never Despairs

Viktor Frankl was a renowned Austrian psychologist who survived three horrendous years in four concentration camps during the Holocaust. As he recounts the most dehumanizing conditions of the camps, the back-breaking work, and harsh treatment from the guards, Frankl began to notice that there was something different about those who survived. They had a sense of purpose.

Frankl, along with others, began to encourage others not to lose hope. He also began to write his memoir and developed a new kind of therapy. In his mind he would construct a future where he would publish his book, reunite with his wife, and many other things that gave him a purpose to keep on living.

Although his wife had died at a nearby concentration camp in 1944, he was liberated a year later, and shortly after did publish his book titled “Man’s Search for Meaning” in which he explores how a person can find fulfillment and meaning, even under the most horrific circumstances. The book has been a bestseller in multiple languages since 1946.

In a TV interview Frankl was asked, why does he think people despair? He answered that despair can be explained in a mathematical way as the equation: D=S-M, Despair is equal to Suffering without Meaning. A person who has found meaning in their life, even while suffering, can turn a predicament into a triumph. A person with a purpose never despairs.

While we hope never to experience the horrors that Mr. Frankl went through, we can hope that through his experience and that of many others, we can find the courage to look beyond our immediate problems and find meaning and purpose in our daily activities, even if they may seem menial at the time.

As we begin a new year, we may do well to stop for a few minutes and reflect as to what gives meaning to our lives. Through the ups and downs of the previous years, and the challenges and triumphs of those to come. What is it that keeps us going? What keeps you going? Once we know, we can start this new year with renewed energy, revitalized, and with a concrete hope for a better future.