More than eight years since I first came across the Japanese concept of “a reason for being” or ikigai, I have encountered it again, this time, in Beijing: first, during the Global Issues Network (GIN) conference at Keystone Academy in October, and later on a LinkedIn post. The encounters reminded me of a “heart-to-heart” conversation with my best friend back in the early 2010s, when we were beginning our careers in media.
At that time, I had just begun working as a news writer, getting a couple of pinch-hit assignments that gave me a monthly salary twice more than that of a regular employee. She asked about my plans for the future because she had been struggling to make ends meet. Their family business was ravaged by a disaster some years back, which eventually “forced” her to be a breadwinner. During this conversation, she wondered if I already “found” my purpose in life.
How could I have known my life’s purpose then? She had a valid inquiry and it required deep thinking. But I gave her a prompt reply: “My purpose lies in writing, but I am not a good writer.” That response made her confused. “I’m just a regular news junkie who has an affinity for the written text.” I shared with her a photo, which I found somewhere online:
I told her that when I encountered that diagram, I realized that writing for me suits those four spheres. This diagram has been saved in my phone since then, but it was until recently that I learned its name: ikigai (Japanese iki 生き, “life; alive” and gai 甲斐, “worth” or “benefit”) that roughly translates to “a reason for being.”
Today, there’s so much that I can say about how writing has become my ikigai. How sure I am that writing is my life-long ikigai? I will try to recount what my 20-something-year-old-me said to my best friend at that time.
– You love it: There were instances back in school where my teachers noticed the way I wrote assignments. Back in primary school, a late teacher selected me as “Best in Filipino Literature” despite me being so naughty in her class. In university, a Filipino history professor said he loved my essay (I couldn’t remember the topic anymore) and encouraged me to pursue writing. However, I did not take them seriously. I learned to love writing as it allows me to record my thoughts and ideas, and to say what I couldn’t say.
– The world needs it: My first job was being a segment producer for a public service radio program. For one-and-a-half years, I met people who sought assistance from our program. Many of them needed answers to their problems. Others were so desperate that they turn to the media to complain against people in authority. Some were parents whose children had disabilities, or relatives who had been killed. So many different problems. And I needed to write about their issues in the hope that authorities would respond and help them. My job was a “quota work,” which meant I needed to submit stories every day. I hated it. Not because I was lazy but because I wanted to produce quality stories that would provide those “complainants” with solutions. From that job, I learned that I could use words to give hope. Not false hope.
– You are paid for it: For the right reasons.
– You are great at it: Even in university, I was in charge of a lot of research and writing work for the many academic organizations I was in. But in my senior year, I became our group’s video and graphics editor, so I thought I would pursue a design career. I did it, but only for a year, as a video playback operator for a weekend news program. That job became my path to becoming a news writer. The news manager at that time asked me if I was ready to be trained by her. Our team ended up covering breaking news events on the weekends, including the destruction of and recovery from Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
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So it was surreal encountering the ikigai almost a decade later, during the conference at Keystone. Nothing much has really changed in my ikigai, despite the circumstances I have faced in my career.
Writing is my profession. I have jumped back and forth in the different fields in the world of writing. From broadcast journalism to public relations to print journalism to social media marketing to internal communications. I wonder where my writing will take me in the future? Perhaps to Mars?
Writing is my vocation. Aside from my regular work as a writer/editor, I write pro bono for several charity organizations in Beijing. The energy that emanates from the disadvantaged people these groups help invigorates me and makes me feel fulfilled.
Writing with a mission. I love telling stories using the written word. Stories that breathe, stories that bring life, stories that explore, stories that listen, stories that enlighten, stories that build communities. In a conversation with a former colleague, he told me that we were “bloggers.” I responded back, “I’m not a blogger. I am a journalist.”
Writing is my passion, but I still hate writing. There are times I can write effortlessly as if words just flow through my fingers. But there are times that I needed to stop writing so I could focus my energy and make my thoughts clearer and better. Just like this article, which was supposed to be published in October. I got caught up with the daily job that I lost my original concept for this piece, but I am sure this version is deeper and more meaningful. I hate writing for the sake of producing content.
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Going back to the conversation with my best friend, I remember her looking amazed that I was able to explain my ikigai easily as if I knew it by heart. I encouraged her to take a look at her life to understand her own ikigai–a few days after the talk, she listed her strengths, skills, passions, and whatnot, ending with a jumbled diagram that confused her more.
The ikigai conversation happened before my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I thought I would move to another career, but the ikigai guided me to continue my path in writing.
Is it difficult to know your ikigai? I truly don’t know. I don’t have the answer. But when I realized writing suits the four spheres of I-don’t-know-what-to-call-but-they-are-magically-aligned-life-stuff in my life, it became easier for me to look ahead.
How did I discover my ikigai? Maybe because of the circumstances in my life? Though I consider myself fortunate that I am able to understand it at an early age.
Do I have another ikigai? I don’t know–yet. Maybe I have another ikigai that I haven’t realized yet.
Here are some videos that can help us understand ikigai better.
Photo: Ikigai diagram from Yieldr Blog