Ciao, Konnichiwa, and Hello:
I looked out the window this morning and, besides the Japanese signs and scraggly trees lining the street (not to mention a boxy car or two), thought it could have been Seattle. It's POURING rain and the black umbrellas are out and about. I'll admit, since we don't get much rain at this season I'm kind of enjoying it. From indoors.
This blog is about our experiences in Japan but also a few unrelated thoughts of my own (though everything's related, I dare say). I was reading the letters of women writing to their 20-something selves and found their advice truly inspiring.
In case you have no idea what I'm referring to, you can read the letters here:
http://cassieboorn.com/20-something-self-letters/
There is a shared theme running through these letters I felt spoke loudly: Your 20s are yours and should be savored. They should be beautiful and intrepid, full of exploration and sampling, a surrender to an infinitely valuable and fleeting freedom. These years are gems. Unfortunately, many ambitious 20-somethings grow distracted by the self-inflicted pressure to map our their futures. As we struggle to define ourselves and what's next we forget to "enjoy the ride." Unwillingly yet self-prophesied, I've fit this prototype.
Yet at the three month and one week mark in Japan, a steady calm has washed over the cranes floating in the window, the simple tatami mats, the plants supple and plump from watering. Urgencies have begun to quiet, worries slip gracefully out the cracked windows. Our glass doors, etched with flowers, have begun to speak the language of the pink clouds drifting across the ceiling of Robertino's cafe, my Mom's homemade pesto pasta, Palmer Lake in all seasons. Like the letters to the twenty-something selves, my surroundings are beginning to offer comforting handfuls of calm and tranquility.
There is no rush, no deadline to meet. I was Skyping with my Mom yesterday, and she told me something valuable (as usual): that ultimately, when you stop worrying about the future and allow yourself to experience life, the next steps will reveal themselves organically. What a relief! This philosophy reflects Stephen's as well as those of the letters: fill life with as much goodness and pleasure as possible (have I mentioned how fortunate I am to be with the most contagiously happy person I know for this adventure?).
Japan is helping me, and I am so grateful. This experience is teaching me, day by day, to release myself from worry, from guardedness, from hesitation. Life is simple. You get what you give, you are what you think, and you'll become what you emit. A fresh pot of tea, a bright bouquet, or a good book will saturate the daily palette with color if only you'll allow it to. It's your choice. The present is oozing with sweet offerings... accept them.
I also feel infinitely fortunate to live in an age when remaining connected to loved ones all over the world is easy. To my wonderful family: I think about you every day. To my twenty-something friends, let's not let these years escape us under-appreciated.