Everyone wants to have a successful and uplifting life, with a good amount of disposable income, a sense of reliably “climbing the ladder” in a given field, and the opportunity to have a few material comforts, as well.

Often, though, people start from a position of wanting to achieve a balanced and uplifting life, only to place the emphasis in the wrong areas along the way, and end up in quite imbalanced and ultimately unfulfilling circumstances.

If you’ve been considering getting into a line of work that you essentially hate, simply because of the fact that it pays well, for example, it’s time to pause and reconsider.

There are many ways to do things that you find meaningful in life, that also fulfil your desires for material well-being – or, at least, that have the potential to do so. In this article, for example, you’ll find some good reasons to pursue your Master of Laws degree.

Ultimately, you should always be focused on doing things that you find meaningful, even when they aren’t straightforward, and even when they don’t seem to be the most directly profitable options on the table.

Here are some reasons why.

Because at the End of the Day, You Need to Live With Yourself

When all is said and done, each of us needs to be able to look ourselves in the mirror and feel a sense of pride, or at least some degree of satisfaction, as opposed to a sense of scorn, or a suspicion that we are wasting our time living in a way that isn’t in alignment with our values.

It’s not necessarily the case that you would be doing anything obviously “bad” if you didn’t pursue the things you found meaningful in life – but it’s very likely that you would struggle to live with yourself, day after day, due to the tension created between your dreams, aspirations, and ideals, and your actions in the real world.

People who have endured terrible hardships throughout history have often said words to the effect of Nietzsche’s famous “if you have a why, you can endure almost any how,” and it’s always better to be in a situation where you have to work harder but can be genuinely proud of the way you are conducting yourself, than to have a more straightforward path laid out before you, only to feel as though you are somehow betraying yourself.

Pursuing what you find meaningful in life is a great way of coming to be at peace with yourself, on a fundamental level.

Because Your Character Impacts Your Whole Life, Not Just Your Work

Character is essential, and plays a role in everything from how much we respect ourselves, to how much other people respect us, to how trustworthy we are, and more.

Essentially, you develop good character by behaving openly, honestly, and with integrity, always, and regardless of the consequences. And good character positively influences your whole life in every dimension, including – but not limited to – your work.

People who are known to be upright and trustworthy are more likely to be promoted at work, and and are more prone to being liked and appreciated by their colleagues. They are more likely to win and keep the trust of their clients. And they are more likely to maintain healthy relationships, and a sense of self-respect, in their private lives.

Pursuing what you find meaningful in life, and willingly facing the challenges that come with walking that path, is an excellent way of developing your character and staying in alignment with your values. On the other hand, choosing to turn your back on the path of meaning is always undermining to your character, on some level – and you can expect that this will have negative repercussions on the various dimensions of your life, across the board, too.

Because You Will Be Tested, and There Will Be Obstacles – It’s Important to Have Something Worthwhile to Justify Pushing On

There will always be challenges in life, and things will always be hard, at least from time to time. No one ever achieved significant things in their career by coasting, day after day. Likewise, almost nothing worth having in your personal life is likely to be “easy,” either.

Having a strong, close, and trusting relationship with someone you love, for example, requires plenty of hard work, compromise, and sacrifice. The reason you’re willing to make that sacrifice and put in the work, time and again, is because you ultimately believe in the relationship and consider it to be worth the effort.

The same kind of dynamic plays out with regards to your job, among other things. But how likely are you to grind on relentlessly, in the face of challenges, hardship, and frustration, if the work you’re doing strikes you as fundamentally meaningless, hollow, and empty? How motivated will you be to continually push forward if the only reason you can think of to do so is for money, or the next promotion?

Generally speaking, the more you pursue the things in your life that you find meaningful, the more the necessary struggles and sacrifices that go along with that will seem to justify themselves, instead of coming across as some kind of great horror.

Because Authenticity and Sincerity Often Open Unseen Doors

It might be that you are reluctant to pursue certain paths in your life that you find meaningful, because you can’t see how they will lead you to the places you want to go. This tends to be especially true in relation to career paths, with people routinely compromising and getting into lines of work that they don’t really believe in, because they can see some kind of clear path of progression there.

The thing to realise, is that authenticity and sincerity often open doors that are initially hidden.

More than that, when you’re living in alignment with your values and a sense of higher purpose, you are more likely to encounter and spot opportunities that might otherwise have been hidden from view.

In other words; living with passion in the pursuit of meaning can often take you down amazing paths that you never imagined with there, at the outset of your journey.