A Journey through My Diverse Perspectives

  Many successful individuals who have made significant contributions to society, as well as those who have led lives filled with love, share a common trait: they find profound and mysterious meanings in small encounters and events. By recognizing chance opportunities and feeling grateful for them in such encounters and events, they grow as individuals and live more fulfilling lives.

  In the short term, the results of wins and losses in a fair competitive game may seem significant. However, when considered over the long-term span of one's life, these outcomes may lose their importance. What truly matters is not whether we won or lost, but whether we were able to demonstrate our abilities and potential during both the preparation period and the competition itself. The lessons we learn from these experiences and how we apply them to our lives afterward are far more valuable. Ultimately, it is the long-term perspective that counts. The real struggle is not against others, but against ourselves.

  Before I retired, I often found myself comparing my achievements and lifestyle to others. However, after retirement, I realized that comparing myself to others holds little value. Instead, retirement has allowed me to focus on living authentically by facing my inner self. Retirement revealed the futility of comparing myself to others, instead guiding me to live more authentically by facing my inner self. Actively pursuing dreams and consistently cultivating gratitude helps maintain both mental and physical youth, ultimately bringing a deeper sense of peace and contentment.

  The Japanese proverb, “You can't eat ripe persimmons unless you climb higher into a dangerous place,” conveys the idea that avoiding risks may hinder one from achieving satisfactory results or significant profits. It emphasizes the importance of courage in facing challenges.

  When dark clouds gather in your relationships, your mind can become very disturbed. Under stress, it becomes extremely difficult to control your thoughts, concentrate on tasks, and maintain the rhythm of daily life. In such situations, it would be ideal to quickly find a way to relieve the tension and protect your heart. However, significant mental disturbances can make even this challenging. At times, you may have no choice but to surrender to the passage of time, waiting for it to solve the problem—not by changing the other person, but by changing yourself. Even though you might not want to rely on time passing, it can be the best remedy.

  Your second life begins after retirement, but in your first life, it's essential to actively challenge yourself by pursuing healthy, specific goals and hopes that arise from deep within your heart. Even if some endeavors end in failure, looking back after retirement, you won't harbor many regrets. On the contrary, if you didn't try, you would regret it, carrying that feeling with you even after retiring. While it's important to consider the relationship between risk and return when taking on challenges, and to take on challenges within an acceptable level of risk as you age, the key is to push your boundaries. Immediately after retiring, you'll feel content if you can say, "I did everything I could in my first life."

  If we take three steps back today, we can take four steps forward tomorrow. By consistently taking one step forward, we will eventually reach our destination. In life, there may be even more meaning in overcoming every setback along the way than in simply reaching the destination.