‘Blue Zones’ refer to locations around the world where there exist an abnormally high proportion of centenarians (people over 100 years of age). One such Blue Zone is the island of Okinawa, Japan. In Ikigai, Garcia writes about his experience travelling to the island and talking to its locals and shares with us what he believes can help us live long and happy lives.
At the centre of it all is Ikigai: your reason for being. It can be found at the intersection of 4 things: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. According to Garcia, the body wears down the fastest in times of crisis. So feeling terminally stressed is the cause of many health problems. Once you find your Ikigai, you may find yourself busy with your work, but not stressed about it. Once you find your Ikigai, retirement becomes a silly concept because you will want to keep working.
The reason this book only received a 6.4 is that it feels all over the place and does not go into much detail about anything (kinda like my blog posts LOL). Furthermore, through no fault of the author, much of the information presented is repeated from other books I’ve already read. For example, the notion that you can intervene in the cycle of thoughts → emotions → actions → thoughts by controlling your actions is one of the points that Mark Manson’s Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck makes (in fairness, this book was published a few months before Subtle Art. I think the latter book does a better job at exploring this idea though). The notion that the only thing you can control is your response to the situation around you and the importance of finding your purpose is the basic premise of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. The notion of flow was covered in more depth in Scott Young’s Ultralearning. And finally, recent studies are calling into question the status of Okinawa as a Blue Zone, which is kind of the premise that this entire book relies on.
To end on a positive note, I appreciate this book’s discussion of the importance of maintaining close relationships in living a happy and longevous life. Last semester, I think I over-prioritized academics and sacrificed too much on the social front, which did not make me very happy. Going forward, I hope I can strike a better balance between the two.
IRL Update (01/14/2023): I forgot how tiring it is to commute downtown every day. My heart goes out to my U of T friends who have to do this for 4 years. You guys are tougher than me.