Career Change and Finding Purpose: My Story Inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service and Playlists
How Kiki’s Delivery Service and playlists helped me navigate an existential crisis, quit a job that didn’t fulfill me, and pursue my purpose in music
The Wake-Up-Call
You wake up. And you feel like you’d rather stay asleep. But you justify it by telling yourself you went to bed late scrolling on TikTok. And you get out of bed on autopilot to go to work. Like every other day.
You wake up another day. And it’s no longer just that you’d rather stay in bed than go to the office. It’s that you’d do anything to avoid going to work.
And you realize that what’s keeping you up at night isn’t just late-night survival scrolling on TikTok—it’s your job. And beyond those projects with deadlines that haunt you even after logging off, what’s really keeping you up is the restlessness and anxiety that come from knowing you’re doing something you don’t enjoy. At all.
One day (actually, a few), it happened to me. I woke up—after barely sleeping during another late-night overthinking session—and I had the wake-up call. I wasn’t tired because I hadn’t slept. I was tired of my life. I hated my job, the corporate lifestyle. I was exhausted from pretending it meant something to me.
I’m not someone who romanticizes waking up early—whether it’s for a trip or for work—but waking up every single day to do something that doesn’t fulfill you in the slightest? That’s one of the harshest de-romanticization of life you can run into.
But sometimes, it’s also the wake-up call you need—to finally start choosing a life with purpose.
Lost and Found (?)
Just like I don’t romanticize waking up early, I don’t romanticize getting this wake-up call either. It can hit you like a slap in the face, leaving you confused — and pushing you to an existential crisis.
Oh, hello darkness existential crisis, my old friend…
Should I quit my job and move to the countryside to take care of flowers?
What if I move to a new city and start from scratch?
Or better yet — what if I just ignore everything and pretend nothing’s wrong?
Well… although that last one might sound like the easiest option, it’s definitely not what helped me stop feeling lost after realizing my career in marketing hadn’t felt meaningful for years.
Because the truth is: only me, myself, and I could figure out what that one thing (or maybe a few) I’m truly passionate about really is.
So after that wake-up call — and many months of feeling completely lost — I slowly started to try to figure things out.
Kiki Delivered Me A Few Life Lessons
Then, I began the process of (re)building a life that felt meaningful and aligned with what I truly want.
While I know this is probably a lifelong process, in those early steps — when I was just beginning to ask myself what purpose could look like for me — inspiration came from an unexpected source. Kiki’s Delivery Service. A Studio Ghibli movie about coming-of-age, losing your spark, navigating life and its challenges, and finding your way back to it.
Besides leaving a 5-star rating on Letterboxd, this comforting movie left me deeply moved and made me reconnect with how beautiful life can be after a few gloomy months.
Like Kiki, I also felt a part of my identity was gone once I decided to quit my job. Realizing how my career path and a (self-imposed) purpose were far away from my true passion in life triggered a wave of self-doubt and an intense existential crisis.
But just as Kiki had to rediscover her magic by reconnecting with her passion (helping others), I also started gaining perspective and reconnecting with my passion.
After the lessons delivered by Kiki, I learned that it’s okay to feel lost, because sometimes you have to lose yourself to find what really makes you come alive.
Music also connected me to my purpose
Beyond getting inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service, I also found inspiration in music. As always.
Throughout this journey of uncertainty and self-doubt, my playlists became a personal space where I could reflect, process emotions, and reconnect with parts of myself. Through curating and listening, I slowly uncovered what truly mattered to me and realized that my purpose is deeply connected to music itself.
This realization shifted me from feeling lost to finding clarity—helping others explore their identity and emotions through music.
Today, I create content and develop projects—like my master’s thesis and The Playlist Journal—centered on the powerful role playlists can play as a reflective practice for self-regulation and self-expression.
Embracing that truth allowed me to start living a life that feels meaningful and aligned with who I truly am and what I want to do — and, hopefully, begin transitioning my career into the music industry, where I can continue raising awareness about playlists as an emotional and creative tool.
I’m still in the process of pursuing my passion — and while it’s not always easy, and some days the idea of going back to corporate feels like the most convenient option, I now wake up each day feeling more connected to how I live my life.
Because even if the path is uncertain, I know I’m getting closer, day by day, to building something that truly aligns with my purpose and that fulfills me.
