Recently, I have found an exercise on The Futur's YouTube Channel on finding your reason for being, your purpose in life, your will to live. It's called Ikigai. It comes from two words iki- means life, and -kai means worth.

I don't know why it's spelled differently when combined. But it is what it is.

Here is a diagram in helping find your Ikigai.

The instruction is to focus on the outermost circles and then find the common components all the way to the center -- revealing your Ikigai. It's a fun experience (but it could also be extremely difficult).

Think of the things you love doing, jot them down in that area of the diagram. So on and so forth.

So for example, you love spending time with kids, you're good at teaching, you're paid to teach kids, and the world needs teachers for kids -- congratulations! Teaching is a common factor in all questions, so it's easier to determine as per the diagram.

You may be willing to persevere through all the struggles just so you could play your part as being a teacher. You may find ways to be better at it throughout your life.

Some people find work to be their Ikigai, and they keep at it until their health no longer allows it. Some would retire already if they're financially secured for the rest of their lives and spend their time with loved ones.

Unfortunately, this is not usually the case and it can be stressful for some. They love to play video games, they're good at cooking and cannot be paid for such activities. The world needs more education and access to basic utilities but you can only be paid for being a delivery goods driver.

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying that being a goods courier is bad. It's honest work. I'm just saying that if you didn't want to be where you are right now, you should start finding other ways to find money on the side.)

There's just no common factor with all of these that you start questioning your very existence.

You might start to think that you have a lot of useless talents, like this spoork.

My lesson from this Ikigai exercise is that even if it seems simple, you just can't find your Ikigai overnight, and it's never common to find it at such a young age. (Can anyone tell me the metric for "young age?")

Just take your time with the exercise, reflect on the things you've been doing and on the things you think you're gonna like doing.

Some people find their purpose in life, they devote themselves to that purpose. Others would even spend a lifetime to find their own devotion.

Be patient.

Be kind.

You owe it to yourself. ;)