I’ve recently come across a term called ‘ikigai’ which is best described as being a Japanese concept which encourages people to live a purposeful life. Ikigai is explained as being a lifelong journey, not a destination, which guides one’s reason for being. The concept aims at defining what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for. Ikigai has long been referred to as the secret to living a long, healthy and purposeful life, in which we’re encouraged to live in the moment and make each day meaningful.
For me recently, I’ve found the concept as novel as I have poignant. If you think about it, it’s not really rocket science but allowing yourself the time and space to define each of these things and understanding how they interlink and relate to each other is kind of mind blowing. I have obviously completely bought into the concept. I bought the renowned book which details what the concept is and I even filled out the venn diagram to identify each of the important areas as it relates to my life. What I discovered in all of this was a web of my reason for being in this existence. It puts everything I believe in on a page, coupled with the skills I’ve acquired along the way and it’s provided me with a sort of roadmap for maintaining my passion and drive in life.
What all of this has taught me is the importance of defining what it all means to me as an individual. It’s reinforced that I can’t live the carbon copy of someone else’s existence if I expect to live a meaningful and full life that matters to me. It’s shown me that what ultimately drives me in life is the pursuit of equality and social justice for us all.
Ikigai, for me, means living life by my own rules. It means centering passion and joy within every area of my life. In the past I’ve poured everything into my job. It’s become my entire personality, my mission, my vision and encapsulated all of my values. But inevitably without it, questions about ‘who am I’ swirled to no end.
Recently I’ve constantly been asking myself, what is my purpose in life…? I’ve seemingly lost all faith in the humanitarian system, in humanity at a global level itself so what do I then actually believe in? How do I channel my drive for social justice in a way that brings about good and keeps me fulfilled and in return constantly motivated..?
I’ve had to understand that it’s not healthy to attach all of my being to one particular segment of my life. Especially when I am not fully in control of this area. When you’re an employee of a large organisation, or any organisation really, you usually become just a cog in a wheel who can easily be replaced. When you invest all of your being and your emotions within a workplace, you’ll always be let down.
I’ve therefore come to understand that I need to find self fulfillment and self validation outside of my job, and within myself first. I need to delve deep within my heart and soul to understand what drives me within this life and put the building blocks in place to continue steadily progressing towards it. Yes I happen to be one of the lucky ones who works for entities that align with my own core values and beliefs. But I have drivers outside of this too and pursuing other roads towards engagement in social justice activities or even just activities that I enjoy as a human keeps me sane.
Mapping out my ikigai has helped me to see that my passions run strong, even outside of my job. It’s helped to connect the dots so that I understand myself better. It’s reset that Northern star for me once again and helped me to realign myself on my unique journey. It’s also remotivated me to believe in myself and set all of my interactions and intentions on the path of where I want to make my biggest influence on this world. It’s also meant that I’ve been able to centre my empathy, my people led approach, my kindness and compassion into everything that I do. It’s helped me to understand myself within and determine what kind of life I will live in spite of the bumps along the way.
So I know I’m currently one of those annoying people singing the praises of some random concept online, but it’s genuinely brought me back to life and for that, I will forever be grateful.
I blog for Change. 