Recognizable Questions
- Why can life feel empty when my worldview changes?
Why, after a major change, might I think:
What am I even doing this for anymore?
Does meaning always have to be big, spiritual, or lifelong?
Can I experience meaning without having all the answers?
How do I discover what is truly valuable to me?
What is the need for meaning?
People usually do not just want to live their lives; they also want to understand them and experience them as worthwhile.
That is why psychology conducts a great deal of research into meaning in life — experiencing meaning in life.
Researchers Frank Martela and Michael Steger distinguish three important components:
Coherence – do I understand my life and experiences to some degree?
Direction – do I have goals or something I am living toward?
Meaning or value – do I experience that my life matters?
So you can have a clear goal and still wonder why that goal is actually important. Or you can find your life worthwhile while still not knowing exactly which direction you want to go.
Meaning has multiple layers.
Meaning is not the same as the answer to “the meaning of life”
That distinction is important.
Psychology can study:
When do people experience their lives as meaningful?
What gives direction?
What happens when an important life story changes?
But psychology cannot scientifically determine whether life ultimately has a purpose given by God.
A believer may find meaning in a relationship with God.
Another person may find a great deal of meaning in family, friendship, care, nature, knowledge, creativity, or contributing to society.
And for many people, several sources exist side by side.
Research into sources of meaning shows, for example, that relationships, especially family ties, are often an important source of meaning.
Why do people seek coherence?
We do not experience our lives as a collection of disconnected events.
We connect experiences to one another:
This happened to me.
This changed me.
This is important to me.
That is where I want to go.
Psychologist Crystal Park describes how people use broader beliefs and goals as a kind of framework for interpreting events.
When something major clashes with that framework, people may try to reframe what has happened. For example after loss, illness, a breakup, or a change in worldview.
That is why a change in worldview can feel much bigger than just:
“I now think differently about one topic.”
Questions like these can also become open again:
Who am I?
What do I value?
What do I hope for?
How do I want to live?
Meaning does not have to be grand
When people think about purpose, they sometimes think of one big life mission.
But meaning can also be very ordinary.
A conversation with someone you care about.
Caring for a child.
Learning something.
Maintaining a garden.
Making music.
Helping someone.
Doing work that matters to you.
A walk where you feel connected to nature.
An activity does not have to change the world to be meaningful.
The question can be simpler:
“What makes this day worth it for me?”
An example
Someone has a good job, sufficient income, and a comfortable house.
Still, that person feels little fulfillment.
Every Wednesday he helps his elderly father with groceries. On the way home, he notices that those few hours are what give him real meaning.
Why?
Not because buying groceries is some grand life purpose.
But because the activity connects with something he values:
care, connection, and love.
Meaning is therefore not only in what you do, but also in why it is valuable to you.
How can religion provide meaning?
Religion can offer several components of meaning at once.
A faith can answer questions such as:
Why do we exist?
What is right and wrong?
Where is the world headed?
What will happen in the future?
What is my place in a greater whole?
In addition, a religious community can offer relationships, rituals, goals, and a shared identity.
For many people, faith is therefore an important or even central source of meaning.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, teach that the purpose of life is tied to a friendship with God, living according to his purpose, and the hope of everlasting life in the future. That gives believers a clear framework of coherence, direction, and future expectation.
For someone who shares this belief, it can be a powerful source of meaning.
What can happen when a worldview changes?
When a belief that has provided direction for years changes, several questions can arise again at the same time.
Not just:
“What do I believe now?”
but also:
“What am I living for now?”
That does not have to lead to emptiness for everyone. Some people actually experience relief, freedom, or new possibilities quite quickly.
Other people temporarily miss a clear purpose, sense of the future, or feeling of coherence.
A major longitudinal study from New Zealand, published in 2026, followed data from more than 46,000 people. People who no longer identified as religious during the study period reported, on average, less experienced meaning and purpose later on than people who remained religious. At the same time, they still reported more meaning than participants who had been non-religious throughout the entire period.
That study was not specifically about Jehovah’s Witnesses and does not mean that someone must become less happy by leaving a religion or that returning is necessary.
It does show, however, that religion can genuinely be a source of meaning for many people and that losing or changing such a framework can place a psychological burden on someone.
You can lose an old answer before you have a new one
That in-between stage can feel uncomfortable.
You may increasingly know what you don’t believe anymore, while not yet knowing what will replace it.
That can feel like:
before, I knew exactly where everything was headed;
now I don’t anymore.
But not having an answer is not the same as having no meaning.
You could also say:
“I don’t yet know what my bigger life vision is, but I do know what matters to me today.”
That can be a beginning.
Discovering meaning or creating meaning?
People differ fundamentally on this.
One person thinks:
“My life has a meaning that I need to discover.”
Another:
“I give my life meaning by how I choose to live.”
And yet another combines both.
Psychologically, we do not have to choose a winner between those ideas.
We can, however, explore:
“Where do you actually experience coherence, direction, and value?”
Meaning can change
What gives meaning at twenty does not have to be the same at fifty.
One period may revolve around study.
Later around children.
After that around care, creativity, friendship, faith, work, freedom, or something entirely different.
That does not necessarily mean your earlier meaning was fake.
People change.
Circumstances change.
Values can develop.
Meaning is therefore also allowed to move with your life.
What can you do with that?
When you feel little direction, you do not have to immediately find an answer to:
“What is the purpose of my whole life?”
Start smaller.
For example, ask:
When did I feel truly engaged in what I was doing over the past month?
Who matters to me?
What do I want to contribute to?
Which values do I want to make visible in my daily life?
What gives me satisfaction, even if no one sees it?
What things would I continue to care about even if no one rewarded me for them?
You can then choose one small activity that fits such a value.
Meaning does not have to be fully worked out first.
It can also emerge as you live.
Questions to reflect on
When does an ordinary day feel meaningful to me?
Where did I mainly get meaning from in the past?
Which parts of that do I want to keep?
Which parts have changed?
Which people give my life value?
Which values would I like to see reflected in my choices?
Do I need one big life purpose, or are several smaller sources a better fit for me?
What contribution — however small — feels valuable to me?
And:
If no one told me what a meaningful life is supposed to be, what would I find important myself?
Summary
The need for meaning is about the desire for our lives to feel somewhat understandable, have direction, and possess value.
For some people, religion provides a strong framework for this. For others, important sources of meaning lie in relationships, work, care, knowledge, creativity, nature, or social involvement. Often different sources exist alongside one another.
When an important worldview changes, therefore, more than just a belief may temporarily shift. Direction, expectations for the future, and identity may also need to be examined again.
That does not have to mean that meaning has disappeared.
Sometimes the old answer disappears first, before it becomes clear what the new one will be.
Meaning does not have to be grand, either.
It can begin with a much smaller question:
“What matters enough to me to live for today?”
Sources and further reading
Frank Martela & Michael F. Steger (2016), The Three Meanings of Meaning in Life: Distinguishing Coherence, Purpose, and Significance, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531–545. On coherence, direction, and significance/value as three distinct components of experienced meaning.
Michael F. Steger, Meaning in Life: A Unified Model, in The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. On meaning as coherence, purposefulness, and perceived value, and on different sources of meaning.
Crystal L. Park (2010), Making Sense of the Meaning Literature: An Integrative Review of Meaning Making and Its Effects on Adjustment to Stressful Life Events, Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 257–301. On how people try to connect events to broader beliefs and goals.
Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Don E. Davis, Chris G. Sibley & Joseph A. Bulbulia (2026), Life Loses Some Meaning After Leaving Religion, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 18(3), 313–322. A longitudinal study of changes in experienced meaning and purpose after religious disidentification. The results apply to the New Zealand population studied and are not specific to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Xanthe Glaw et al. (2017), Meaning in Life and Meaning of Life in Mental Health Care: An Integrative Literature Review. In the literature reviewed, relationships, especially family ties, frequently emerged as an important source of meaning.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, What Is the Meaning of Life? Official explanation linking the purpose of life to friendship with God, living according to his purpose, and the hope of everlasting life. This source is used to represent Jehovah’s Witnesses’ own faith perspective.
