A Shelf Full of Ikigai

"I love what I do.  I am a librarian."

I find myself voicing this refrain pretty regularly.  It comes up in conversations with friends, family members who call to see how it's going, and coworkers who comment on my upbeat nature.  Until just recently I didn't really have a good way to explain it - I'd gush about the books, literacy, working with kids - everything.   A simple question of "How are you doing?"  would end 20 minutes later with me still bubbling over with joyous explanations and the asker smiling and slowly..backing.. away....

But now I have a new response.

"Ikigai"

I learned about this word just yesterday. My son and I were working in the garage and listening to a holiday radio show.  In between choruses of "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman" the radio DJ would come on and share different facts and interesting articles.  During one of these pauses the DJ talked about research that looked at how some people live to be 100.  There were of course the tips about eating less meat and moving more naturally.  But there was also ikigai.  Pronounced ee-key-guy, this is the Japanese concept for "Why I wake up in the morning", or more simply "Reason for being".  I was struck by the simplicity of the word and and enormity of all that it means, and then it hit me -  a library is full of ikigai.

You'll see it in quotes all over the internet about libraries and how they have been the link to happiness:

"I always felt, if I can get to a library, I'll be OK."

- Maya Angelou

"Without libraries what do we have?  We have no past and no future."

-Ray Bradbury

"When I got my library card, that's when my life began."

-Rita Mae Brown

What an amazing thing to be a part of.  Every day when the readers come there is this possibility.  There is this chance that inside this space, inside a book, there is a reason for being for each of us. 

This. 

This is why I love my job.  I have found my ikigai.  And part of what I do helps others find their ikigai too.