Been a while since the last time I did a book review here. I’ve read a lot for the past five years that I’ve already forgotten some of them. Life happened, and I’ve lost track of everything, including my bookworm journey. I intend to rekindle it as I revive this blog, and I’d like to start with this famous self-help book.
As I’ve implied in some of my writings, one thing I continuously struggle about is minimizing burnouts as much as possible because I have too many responsibilities that I juggle, and I can’t turn my back from. For years, I’ve been looking for means to healthily remind myself of the reasons so that I won’t lose the drive, but shit happens all the time. I got to find means to cope.
This book has been popular for quite some time; I’ve known most of my friends who have read their copies. Intrigued, acquired my own copy and started reading it.
In a nutshell, Ikigai talks about seeking purpose in life based on the experiences of the centenarians residing in Okinawa, Japan. As research concludes, this beautiful blend of their desires, missions, and passions in life fueled their push to keep on living, which then adds benefit into maintaining their health in optimum condition, in spite of their ages.
Ikigai is defined as the intersection of the things we love, our skill sets, what we can offer to the world, and how we can be paid for it. In my understanding, identifying these things bring us a strong sense of self-awareness which leads to discovering what we want to achieve in our lifetime.
Knowing what we want to do isn’t enough. There should be a blueprint of sorts as to its execution and sustainability, and this is where healthy practices come in. One word that piqued me the most is microflow, which are small activities that can be developed into daily habits we can practice for improvement.
Having microflows changed my life in many ways. When singlehood dawned on me, I sought for things I can try doing so that there would be good changes in my daily routine. It was during the intramurals at Coop Academy; I was too busy with all the preparations and stuff together with my colleagues. One time, we went out of the campus together and hiked our way to the national highway, and we discussed the benefits of doing cardio exercises. My colleagues were well aware of the breakup; hence they encouraged me to start hiking and jogging as a start. It got me thinking, “this could be a good microflow to at least keep me going.“
From there, everything followed. I discovered more hobbies to try on based on my current skill set, such as podcasting on YouTube and exploring new book genres. I also promised to rekindle this blog (which is why I am now active again) so that I can document all these. Thanks to reading this book, microflows brought me sparks to continue chasing my dreams. I may be inconsistent at times, but I am doing as much as I can. I even made a short podcast dump about this before 2024 ended.
Other things I loved about the book are the testimonies from different people across the globe who talked about their journey of seeking their lives’ purposes. These are real stories that should be heard often, and I can only imagine how much change these could contribute towards this world’s recovery, one heart at a time. Most of their words of wisdom resonates with me well, and I am hoping to be able to embody them in my rebirth.
Taking good care of our health is as important as the rest of what’s written, too. This book taught me how to be more conscious of what I eat and how much I need to eat in a day. Considering my age, my personal body goals, and the possibility of acquiring some of my family’s hereditary health issues, this book can serve as a constant reminder of including my physical health among the constitution of my ikigai.
As I was reading this, I also had great discussions about some of its chapters with my friends. I realized how blessed I am to be in the right circles; I can also see how this book helped them realize what they want to be as they grow. This book is not just an ordinary read; just like the famous series we’ve all known since time immemorial, Ikigai can build nourishing communities that, in spite of perspective and goal-setting differences, share a strong vision; to live life with fulfillment.
As I do my best to be consistent in reading, I believe I made a good choice to start with this book. If you’re someone who’s still trying to figure out life, this could help you reach your core and identify what you can do, even if these are just small things but can be good kickstarts. Here’s to seeking purpose and willpower, and to sharing them with this world, one small fulfillment at a time.
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