serve: to be useful or suitable for a particular purpose
Service and life
All the macro systems around us are build with the objective of rewarding people for activities that they are good at. In other words, human beings - in groups - have since time ago have created systems, customs and rituals such that people who are good at serving other human beings get rewarded. In the modern economy, the equivalent is that if you have skills or resources or capital which serves others around you (or the globe), you enjoy status, power and wealth.
I have deeply thought about the purpose of life many times - 2nd year of undergrad and year 2021 were phases of longer deliberation. I have concluded that serving others is a primary purpose of our life. In the process of doing that, you discover your quirks, strengths, weaknesses and what you enjoy. In fact, how we enjoy giving the service changes with age and the definition of others also changes with the environment.
Secluding from serving others
For a variety of reasons, many a times we resist serving our purpose and get stuck in a rut. These situations aggravate when we are stubborn about what we do not want to do. Resolving by excluding things not do is a valid strategy but applying it in serving others becomes a long frustrating process of brute force experiments. In such times, look back and think about the enormity of life around you and realize that service is the constant companion of the living being. When you stop serving, you stagnate and stop living life in its full sense.
Stagnation is the enemy of sanity.