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Depression Hates Purpose, So Set a Big Goal

Let’s use momentum to beat our mental traps

Sarah Kat
5 min readMay 8, 2023
Photo by Nati via Pexels

Humans need purpose, or else, what are we living for?

When I think back to the most depressive episodes of my life, they have all been at a time when I wasn’t fulfilling my purpose in any way, or striving for a big goal.

They were times that I was in a dead end job that didn’t utilise my skills and passions. Or when I was in a controlling relationship that kept me small, so I didn’t set any goals…

Other than the goal to escape, of course. That in itself is a huge goal, and was massively life-affirming when I got out.

The best way to free ourselves from a trap, whether one made from our own mind, or compounded by other people, is to make it a tangible goal.

What makes a goal tangible?

A tangible goal is something with an outcome you can touch, see or measure in the real world. It is not a feeling, like happiness. It is something 3-dimensional.

So many people can be heard saying things like, “I just want to be happy.” But they don’t assign an outcome measure to that feeling — so then how do they know when to start feeling happy?

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Sarah Kat
Sarah Kat

Written by Sarah Kat

Self help, neuropsychology, small business and marketing. An Elective Orphan and abuse survivor. https://bit.ly/highlights-email

Responses (1)

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Things often go full circle and you find yourself in the same position where you started from, only with a different attitude.
Could it be that big goals make you depressed?

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