The Meaning of Life

This has very little to do with parenting but...

I've never been one for philosophy and all the big questions that face humanity. But I'm reading an interesting book now called Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and I found a passage I thought was pretty cool.

Life ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment...'Life' does not mean something vague, but something very real and concrete, just as life's tasks are also very real and concrete.

So for me, right now, the meaning of life has to do with raising a baby. When she takes a nap, my life takes on meaning when I draw or write or exercise.

Frankl's book is part memoir about his time in a concentration camp and part psychological treatise about humanity's need to find meaning in life even when their lives are reduced to an unbearable existence. My description sounds grim but the book offers a lot of hope and valuable insights.