Hey everyone !

I am introducting a new format to my personal development journals. Now, I decided to try a video content along with footage that I gathered from my travels.

Today, I'd love to talk about Ikigai.

What even is Ikigai? Ikigai in its simplest concept can mean having a sense of purpose in life. But around the self-improvement niche, that word is attached to the idea that you find a thing which overlaps between your passion,getting paid, a mission and a skill as well as something you love to do. It all started with the book under the same title Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles that in my opinion popularized this Japanese way of living.

Ikigai is something a lot of people pursue these days due to the notion that if you find the middle ground of everything, it would be a lot easier to wake up in the morning and live your life.

However I find that there is somehow no Ikigai to me because mixing what I love to do and my hobby as well as something I am getting paid for, did not really work. Again, It’s not that I tried, I definitely tried.

It all started when I was back in my hometown. While I was home, I was observing how people around me who work in a corporate environment run their life. “Wagie” as I like to call it among my friends. They lead a good life. They go on a vacation once every few months, they truly enjoyed it. They go somewhere nearby once every two weeks, they go to a coffee shop every now and then.and On top of that, they have a hobby that doesn’t really make them think, “ how do I make money from it” which adds a lot more stress because a hobby is really something you do for fun. Emphasizes on the word for fun.

So,after a while and realizing that my current way of living is no longer suitable and sustainable to me, I decided to separate everything.From my passion that I couple with something I professionally make money from. A hobby standalone, and a vocational skill that I like to do once in a while to support my professional life. Perhaps, Ikigai works but to me, it just doesn’t fit into how I ideally want my life to be. Now that I have a standalone hobby, I thoroughly enjoy every bit of it and don't really stress out about monetizing my hobby. And that restores a lot more enjoyment and offers the benefits that a hobby should have.

That’s all for today’s journal and see you around soon.

Let me know what you think of ikigai in the comment section.