Purpose in Life

Running head: LIFE PURPOSE 1
My Purpose in Life
Rina Nishii
Loras College
LIFE PURPOSE 2
My Purpose in Life
If it is inevitable to die in a few days or years, what will I do today? I frequently ask
myself this question when making decisions. In other words, this answer is the guideline of my
behaviors and represents my value or self-concept. In this regard, my thoughts have been shaped
by many discoveries and learning brought by a series of good encounters with various people in
daily lives, volunteer activities or work, and overseas trips. While interacting with them, I have
seen people who are severely debilitated by illness, bony children who suffer from poverty, and
those who are involved in a traffic accident due to harsh road conditions. As a result, I now think
that dying is not an irrational or special event. Every time I consider my death, what comes to
mind is that I want to return the favor from my family and friends who care about me and to
make them happy as much as I can by using my knowledge and skills. The main reason for this
thinking is closely related to my life satisfaction. I feel contented if I could learn what I did not
know before. Interacting with them often generates this process of acquiring knowledge or
values, and so does my happiness. Therefore, I place great emphasis on communication with my
family and friends while being grateful to them.
As implied above, my purpose in life consists of learning something new and
encouraging my loved ones to lead a fulfilling life. I am sure that they will not reject what I do
for them, but my family and friends would receive no pleasure from my contribution to their
happiness and good by sacrificing my own. To perform my ikigai, it seems significant to find an
activity that may improve their daily lives and make me feel satisfied. Over the course of
academic life, fortunately, I could set a goal that meets these conditions: working as a financial
therapist in the future.

LIFE PURPOSE 3
Through active learning at Loras that had encouraged me to look at what happens in this
world, I came to consider pursuing a career as a financial therapist more practical and
meaningful. In finance courses, for instance, I had determined the financial health of clients in
case studies and developed some plans to help them reach their financial goals by analyzing their
history (asset allocation, budget, family members, job, etc.). Besides, in psychology classes, I
had completed many research papers on an association between current growing social issues
and people's emotions by using dozens of peer-reviewed articles in PsycINFO, interviewing
someone, or asking student to answer questionnaire that I made. Those projects allowed me to
realize that many countries have entered an era in which individuals have been able to survive
around the age of hundred with progress in medical technology and the prevalence of advanced
treatments. Consequently, there has been an increasing number of young and middle adults who
are worried about how much money they need to live sufficiently and how to manage their
assets. Supposedly, my family and friends would be no exception to this phenomenon. Hence, I
believe if I become able to provide them financial therapy, this eventually will be likely to
reduce their financial concerns and then lead to better lives.
In addition, financial therapy is interesting to me as well as useful. Since the therapy
involves providing clients several options to increase their profits through investments and
teaching them how to make financially smart decisions, these duties will fit what I want to keep
doing for my fun. I like investing and have a strong motivation to educate others about a matter
that I know well by plainly sharing my perspectives with them. In fact, I have enjoyed
developing and executing strategies to earn some money with a low-risk investment in Forex as a
means of relieving my daily stress for three years. This investing yields a 10 % return each
month, which means higher profitability than depositing money in a bank account with less than
LIFE PURPOSE 4
1 % annual interest on average. Moreover, when I voluntarily taught Japanese to local adults in
Cambodia this past summer, I felt so fulfilled that some who only could say ohayou [good
morning] and arigato [thank you] became able to introduce themselves or answer short, simple
questions in Japanese within two weeks. I believe these hobbies will essentially become my
strengths because financial therapists need clients to understand why their monetary behaviors
and thinking matter from professional viewpoints based on financial data analysis and also to
reach their financial objectives, like paying off debts or saving more money by convincing their
clients not to spend money impulsively. Also, from past experiences, I predict that it will be fun
to play these roles. Hence, my aspiration to provide financial therapy will lead to my life
satisfaction in the future.
As my purpose in life, I hope I will be able to contribute to the happiness of my family
members and friends who face a financial issue by giving appropriate advice to resolve it while
treading the path of being a financial therapist that combines hobbies and profit. To achieve this,
I want to earn master's degrees in mental health counseling in a CACREP accredited university
after graduating from Loras in 2019, complete graduate internship experiences for LMHC
requirements, and then pass counseling exams for licensure. After that, I would like to take
online CFP courses to expand my knowledge about investments, real estate, taxation, insurance,
and retirement planning. Probably, things will not always work out as I expect. In particular,
there is a high possibility that I cannot defray costs to learn CFP and mental health counseling in
the U.S. However, what I learned in psychology, such as nature of brain prioritizing instant
gratification and attentional bias, would help me identify fundamental reasons for clients'
financially unreasonable or unprofitable behaviors and thoughts in the future. Furthermore,
interactions with my loved ones will inspire me to attain my goal.

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Running head: LIFE PURPOSE 1

family and friends while being grateful to them.

As implied above, my purpose in life consists of learning something new and

therapist in the future.

and people's emotions by using dozens of peer-reviewed articles in PsycINFO, interviewing

reduce their financial concerns and then lead to better lives.

In addition, financial therapy is interesting to me as well as useful. Since the therapy

satisfaction in the future.

As my purpose in life, I hope I will be able to contribute to the happiness of my family

financially unreasonable or unprofitable behaviors and thoughts in the future. Furthermore,

interactions with my loved ones will inspire me to attain my goal.

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