How I Choose to Live My Life

Hello, I'm Yuki Ito. It's been nearly a year since my last post. I had wanted to regularly output my thoughts and share my ideas, but I found it difficult to muster the courage to do so. What finally motivated me to take action was a friend's Instagram posts. His powerful words, delivered in one-take videos, inspired me. I thought, "I should try this too."

In this post, I want to discuss my life philosophy and career planning.
(I'm writing in a casual brainstorming style, so please excuse me if the content meanders.)

I enjoy thinking about how I want to live my life and discussing the values that guide other people's lives. I often have these conversations with friends, but I've never properly articulated these thoughts in writing. So, I'd like to do that here. I'll jot down the things I consider important in life and the values that guide my actions.

I'll approach this from two perspectives: inward-facing and outward-facing vectors.

Inward-facing Vector

Personal Growth
Personal growth is one of my biggest life motivations. When I consider why I'm so fixated on self-improvement, I think it might stem from a sense of insecurity. It's a complex about being a nobody. Throughout elementary, middle, high school, and university, I simply followed the path laid out for me. I diligently did what I was told (like studying) and wasn't bad at it, so I've made it this far without much trouble. In other words, I was just another typical college student, nothing special about me. I realize now that this has always been a source of insecurity for me.

This negative feeling led me to cling to English study, and I gradually felt my confidence growing. However, life is tricky – as your abilities improve, so do those of the people around you, so you never really feel like you've "made it." There's always someone better. With English, I felt I could never match the top European people, and when compared to native speakers, it seemed an impossible task even with a lifetime of effort.

That's why it's important to find your own way of living and fighting. I've expanded my self-improvement beyond just English to include:

• Developing expertise in one specific area

• Acquiring broad knowledge and education to think analogically

• Strengthening mental stability (through practices like meditation)

• Mastering diet, sleep, and exercise to maintain health and avoid decreasing cognitive function and productivity

I believe my way of fighting and what I want to pursue is to engage in all these self-improvement activities.
I love this quote:

To live a day is to advance a step.

Hideki Yukawa

It really resonates with me.

Outward-facing Vector

Social Contribution
I believe everyone wants to be useful to others and feel important to other people. To be honest, I only became aware of this feeling recently. Before, I thought "My personal growth is justice!" and didn't really consider whether it was beneficial to society. Studying linear algebra or quantum mechanics, I couldn't see how it contributed to society. It didn't click.

But recently, I've come to believe that acting according to your values while benefiting society might be the ultimate happiness. One thing that made me realize this was the tutoring volunteer work I recently started. I have strong feelings about Japan's decline, the 30 years without innovation, and the low education budget. By sharing the study skills and mindset I've developed, I feel I can positively influence Japanese education and national strength, even if just a little.

Conversely, even if you've improved your abilities and satisfied your personal growth axis, if you're applying those abilities to something that doesn't align with your values, you might not feel a sense of self-importance. For me, I want to seriously invest my resources in endeavors that contribute to people's long-term, fundamental happiness (education, improving work productivity, healthcare, etc.). On the other hand, I don't feel the same way about things I consider less impactful (like entertainment services that provide short-term pleasure or job-hunting businesses that only stress out confused job seekers).

I've come to realize the importance of prioritizing social contribution as an axis and making decisions based on my values.

So, What Does This Mean?
This post has been a rather disorganized list of thoughts that came to my mind, but the key point is the importance of clearly defining your values and living your life accordingly.

For me, I want to live a life where "I eagerly pursue personal growth while finding ways to give back to society (in alignment with my values)."

Articulating these thoughts might seem challenging, but by writing them down, you might realize things about yourself that you didn't understand before.

This is how I want to live. How do you want to live your life?