“The two most important days in our life is the day we are born and the day we find out why…”
– Daily Calm
Was listening to my Daily Calm meditation app the other day and they mentioned the Japanese word “ikigai.”
Ikigai is a word used to describe our passion in life… The one thing that gets us out of bed in the morning and brings significant purpose into our lives.
Ideally, this would be how we make a living but the reward of ikigai goes well beyond any monetary or materialistic compensation… Its significance is what touches the fabric of our soul and ultimately defines who we are.
“Damn Byrnes, there are a lot of different things in my life that could be my ikigai, but how am I ever supposed to find it when I have to grind it out at work 5 days a week?”
Hey it’s Stevie SuperSoft!!!
“That’s a great question, Stevie. Oftentimes, it takes years to figure out what our true passion is… The key is to continue to charge life while exploring YOUR calling. Society is going to pressure us to conform in many different ways, and sometimes our ability to adapt to our current environment is essential for the greater good of ourselves and others. When our true ikigai shows up, it will consume every aspect of our life and take precedence over everything else… Yet, here’s the deal young go soft, as much as I know you want to save the world at 25 years old with your ikigai, there is a process in life that we all must go through and it’s called “WORK YOUR MOTHER F*CKING ASS OFF.”
When we are able to immerse ourselves in the process of the work, even if we don’t love that work, we are accumulating knowledge, expertise, successes and failures in the field of life… We also must remember that our ikigai at 25 most likely won’t be the same at 35, and our ikigai at 35 most likely won’t be the same at 45 or 55… The bottom line is so long as we live our lives in the moment and understand that our life experiences are forever creating and directing our ikigai, there will be an eventual time and place to go ALL IN…
But until then, just keep working.”
-EB