Warning: Your purpose has expired
This weekend I basically hosted a coven.
Picture this: 90s movie classics (Cinderella Story and Practical Magic, to be specific), beach walks in the crisp September sun, big all-consuming hugs, collective sighs of relief, and yes, an affirmation jar.
Oh, and one extremely anti-social sighthound who is still emotionally recovering from the trauma of SEVEN humans invading her house (pray for Margot).
We also made vision boards for our future.
Because what else are you gonna do at an equinox reset weekend?
But before the glue sticks came out, we grounded ourselves with an exercise I keep coming back to this year: ikigai.
If you’re not familiar, ikigai is a Japanese framework that helps you figure out your “reason for being.”
Sounds dramatic, but stay with me.
It’s basically four-part Venn diagram that asks:
what do you love?
what are you good at?
what does the world need?
what can you be paid for?
And where these questions overlap is your ikigai - the sweet spot between fulfilling and pays-the-bills. In other words, your purpose.
Where it gets really useful is how you actually use it.
💡 If you’re self-employed (aka living on the edge with no HR department to save you): ikigai is the ultimate decision filter. It stops you saying yes to every shiny opportunity that slides into your inbox (especially the ones that secretly make you want to fake your own death). It helps you spot what’s actually aligned, and gives you a backbone for boundaries.
💡 If you’re employed: ikigai is still a game-changer. It’s a way to check if your role is feeding your growth or just padding someone else’s LinkedIn update. It can guide career moves that feel more aligned, and it helps you sneak more purpose into your day-to-day, so you’re not just clocking in, clocking out, and Googling “how to retire early.”
Either way, ikigai isn’t about discovering one eternal, perfect purpose. It’s more like a compass you can keep coming back to when life/work feels foggy. Less “my destiny has been revealed,” more “oh cool, now I know what to stop saying yes to.”
Sounds great, right? But wait, here's the issue I have with all this before we go any further:
People treat purpose like you’re supposed to solve it once and then coast forever.
Like: ah yes, my eternal purpose has been unlocked, now I can die fulfilled.
Lol, no. Life doesn’t work like that.
What felt true at 25 might not fit at 35. Hell, what felt true in January might already be dusty by September.
That’s why I like to revisit my ikigai at different seasons - literally and metaphorically.
Because change is the only constant, and growth is basically just giving yourself permission to keep editing your life.
So here’s my invitation to you:
Grab a notebook, draw four messy circles, and ask yourself:
✨ What actually lights me up right now?
✨ What am I better at than I give myself credit for?
✨ What’s a problem in the world I secretly wish I could help solve?
✨ And where does this intersect with stuff people would actually pay me for?
ikigai framework, a Japanese concept broadly translated as the “reason for being”
Don’t overthink it. Don’t try to find The Big Perfect Answer™. Just see what falls out of your brain this season.
With vision boards, gentle resets, and one very unimpressed sighthound,
Nat x
