A Guide to Steering Life With Purpose: Chart Your Course

Freepik | A lone sailboat with white sails navigating calm turquoise waters under a bright sunny sky.

Occasionally serene and welcoming, at other times untamed and merciless, life can resemble an erratic sea. You may be pushed in unexpected directions by the tides of circumstance. But when you focus on steering life with purpose, you give yourself the power to navigate these waters intentionally.

Instead of drifting wherever the tide takes you, you set your course toward a life that feels meaningful, fulfilling, and aligned with your deepest values.

In her deeply moving memoir, A Thread of Hope: A Woman’s Spiritual Journey of Faith from Trauma to Triumph, author Jacqui DeLorenzo shows exactly what it means to take the wheel in life, even in the midst of relentless storms. Her story is not only one of survival; it is also a tribute to fortitude, faith, and the conviction that, despite how dire things seem right now, you can still move in the direction of a better future.

Why You Must Become the Captain of Your Own Life

One of the first steps in how to be a captain in life is recognizing that your choices, not your circumstances, determine your direction. You may not control the wind, but you do control the sails.

Jacqui faced many hardships in her life, including bullying as a child, the separation of her parents, the death of her younger brother, a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, and an eating disorder. She could have given in to hopelessness at any point. Rather, she decided to focus on recovery and development. This is the heart of steering life with purpose—knowing that no matter what storms rage around you, you still have the ability to decide where you’re headed.

Define What Matters Most to You

Before you can begin steering life with purpose, you need a clear vision of where you want to go. Consider it similar to setting your GPS before a road trip: without a destination, you risk getting lost.

For some, strengthening family ties may be that vision. For others, it could be pursuing a fulfilling career, growing in spirituality, or just leading a peaceful life. Without clarity, it's simple to let distractions influence you or to follow paths that divert you from your priorities.

Jacqui's belief in God served as her compass. This served as her compass, not just a reassuring conviction. Her relationship with God prevented her from straying in her darkest hours. She knew her purpose was to keep growing, to keep healing, and to become the best version of herself.

Create Your Own Path

There can be a lot of pressure to live a "standard" life. According to society, if we don't reach specific goals in a specific order, we've failed. However, leading a purposeful life frequently entails forging your own route, even if it differs from others'.

No two journeys are alike, as demonstrated by Jacqui's story. She refused to let her past trauma dictate how she would live in the future. Rather, she made deliberate decisions that aligned with her principles and objectives. On some days, the decision was to just keep moving forward; on other days, it was to make bold moves. These choices eventually created a life that felt genuine and profoundly significant.

Practical tip: Write down your top five life priorities, then make a conscious effort to align your daily decisions with them. The more you live in alignment with your priorities, the more purposeful your life becomes.

Chart Your Personal Journey

Once you know your values and have chosen to create your own path, the next step is to know how to chart your personal journey.

Setting your course entails dividing your overarching goal into more manageable chunks. Making an outline, writing a chapter every month, and getting input from others could be your steps if your goal is to write a book. Finding supportive communities, engaging in daily reflection, and going to counseling could be your next steps if your goal is emotional healing.

Although Jacqui's path was not always obvious, she managed to stay on course by concentrating on small, everyday acts of fortitude. She accepted the reality that one tiny step at a time is how progress is made.

Adjust the Sails When Needed

Steering life with purpose doesn’t mean stubbornly sticking to one plan no matter what. It means being adaptable. The wind will change, and you’ll need to adjust your sails to keep moving forward.

Jacqui faced many unexpected storms: health crises, personal loss, and emotional setbacks. But rather than abandoning her journey, she adjusted her course when needed. She sought help, leaned on her faith, and found new strategies to keep her moving toward hope.

Tip: Review your goals every few months. If something isn’t working, don’t see it as failure—see it as an opportunity to redirect.

Maintain Hope Through the Storms

One of the most powerful aspects of steering life with purpose is learning to hold onto hope, even when the waters are rough. Hope is not naïve optimism—it’s the belief that the storm will pass and that you’ll emerge stronger for having endured it.

For Jacqui, hope was her anchor. Her “thread of hope” was woven through every trial she faced. She didn’t pretend the storms weren’t real; she simply refused to let them have the final say.

Build a Strong Crew

No one is a captain on their own. Having a purposeful life is easier when you surround yourself with people who inspire, push and support you.

Jacqui leaned on friends, family and her spiritual community in relationships that fed her faith and her well-being, even when she had to carry a burden.  

Tip: find those people in your life who inspire you to be a better version of you. Spend more time with them, and less time with those who lose your bearings.

Keep Growing

Purposeful living is not about reaching one final destination; it’s about continual growth. Even when Jacqui overcame major life challenges, she didn’t stop learning or improving. She made room for new opportunities, new lessons, and new ways to help others.

You can apply the same mindset by treating every experience—good or bad—as a chance to learn and grow.

Practical Strategies for Steering Life With Purpose

To make this guide actionable, here are specific ways to start steering your life more intentionally:

Start with Morning Reflection—Before the day begins, ask yourself what one thing you can do today to move closer to your goals.

Set Measurable Milestones – Break your vision into smaller steps you can track and celebrate.

Create Boundaries—Protect your time, energy, and attention from distractions that don’t serve your purpose.

Practice Gratitude—Focusing on what’s going right can help you maintain a hopeful outlook.

Stay Flexible—Be willing to adjust your course without abandoning your destination.

Inspiration from Jacqui’s Journey

Reading Jacqui DeLorenzo’s memoir is like sitting with a wise friend who has weathered storms you can hardly imagine—and who wants nothing more than to help you find your own way through. Her courage in facing grief, illness, and personal struggle is matched only by her determination to keep moving forward.

Her story reminds us that steering life with purpose is not about avoiding hardship—it’s about facing it with faith, resilience, and the determination to grow.

Freepik | Ornate steampunk compass and a hand-drawn treasure map on a rough-hewn pine table.

Your Next Step: Take the Helm

If your life feels like it's just floating around, now's the moment to take control and steer things in the right direction. figure out what's important to you, make your own way, map out your life's adventure, and tweak things as you go along. Stay hopeful, hang out with the right crowd, and keep learning.

Let Jacqui’s journey be the wind in your sails. Read her memoir, A Thread of Hope: A Woman’s Spiritual Journey of Faith from Trauma to Triumph, and let her resilience inspire your own.