So I was at the local children’s hospital volunteering at an in-patient unit, where I mostly play with sick kids and their pent up siblings. One especially memorable patient was a two month old baby who was born prematurely, and she was TINY. (It seems funny to emphasize tiny but putting it in big letters) Anyways, her mom was out running some errands and the nurses needed somebody to keep an eye on her. I’m pretty sure all babies hate me, but I figured I wasn’t the first clueless guy who held a fragile infant, so I sat with her on the rocking chair. She was behaving for a while, until something apparently snapped and she turned bright red, cried non-stop, and generally acted like the world was ending. And of course, we were in a hospital, so for all I knew her world was ending. I panicked and pretty much destroyed the nurse call button. The nurse calmly explained to me that she was probably fine and that she regularly had these tantrums. She made some unhelpful suggestions like: keep rocking her, give her a binky, talk to her. So I sat there for the next hour or so rocking her as she periodically broke out in tantrums. No matter what I did she wouldn’t stop crying, though I think she occasionally stopped when she got tired or bored of it. It was probably the most helpless hour of my life.When my shift was up, I left the baby in the crib and hurried down to the volunteer office to sign-out of my shift, eager to leave behind the most powerless hour of my life. But I was also feeling something else, and for some reason I had to go back. So I went back to her room, sat and rocked with the baby some more. And she cried some more. Eventually, the nurses had to do some procedures on the baby so I got kicked out. On my way home, I got to thinking about why I went back to that baby. I didn’t go back so the nurses could have a break from taking care of the baby, they were probably tired of an overreacting baby and would have left her alone. I didn’t go back for the baby, since I’m sure that I did absolutely nothing helpful for that baby. I didn’t go back so I could tell you what a caring person I am, I know you don’t care. I went back, because I wanted to. I watched a documentary called “Don’t Quit Your Daydream” about a couple of musicians who make a last ditch attempt to achieve their dream of becoming professional musicians by setting out on a cross country road trip. Their plan is to create a new song with a local artist at every new city they reach. Basically, the point of the documentary was to encourage you to be ok with desperately chasing your daydreams, even if everybody else thinks you’re going nowhere. The idea was way better than the actual documentary, but it had one good analogy. When you’re on the stage performing and all the lights are on you, you can’t see the crowd, so you don’t know whether there are thousands of fans, just a handful, or none. Regardless of how many people are out there watching, you have to perform the same, and this should be easy if you’re doing what you’re doing for you, and not for the fanfare, the love, or the praise. I really believe that life is about other people. It’s about lightening the load for your friends, caring for helpless babies, and inspiring others everywhere you go. May Sarton had a quote:
“There is only one real deprivation, I decided this morning, and that is not to be able to give one’s gifts to those one loves most.”
Even though I am an introvert that gets overwhelmed by being with others, my best memories, both from my life and just on a day-to-day basis, are always the time spent with others. But helping people doesn’t have to be the goal. Instead maybe when you’re really following your heart and doing something you love helping others is an outcome. So maybe, life should be a lot like performing at a concert when you don’t know if anybody is watching. Even though life might be about performing for other people, whatever you do has to be for you, and make you happy. If nobody else was watching, what would you do?from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by Akash k
I recently read a timely New York Times column about how technology deprives our brains of well-deserved rest. The article explained that people are obsessing over new technology, taking multi-tasking to a whole new level by reading an e-book while watching the news and ellipticalling. It sure sounds efficient, but the article argues that without some down time, our brain doesn’t have the time to consolidate the information and learn from it, so our brain just gets overwhelmed. It seems like it makes sense. From a physiological standpoint, new synapses take time to grow and if our neurons are overstimulated, they won’t have time to grow. I think it makes even more sense from an anecdotal standpoint, whenever I multi-task and try to listen to a book-on-tape while I workout I never really remember it.So to avoid being overly busy, I’m trying to simplify my life and disconnect from technology a little bit. I'm hoping this will help me to focus on whatever environment I happen to be in, and whatever I am doing now. I decided not to buy a TV or get internet at my apartment, because I figured those would be easy distractions to cut out. I try to avoid having my phone on my person to evade the easy habit of flipping open my phone every few minutes to check for new text messages. Of course, if you have a reason to always be connected, or just want to be, that can totally work too. But for me, I wanted to make myself more able to connect with my current environment. This isn’t without flaws, of course, as I often miss phone calls and occasionally I will have to go out of my way to send a quick email, but it’s what I chose.I still go to the coffee shop to use their internet, and I still always keep my phone in my backpack, which is almost always around me. But without that easy convenience of just reaching into my pocket to have texting power at my fingertips, or being able to quickly flip open my laptop to see that I, for the fifth time this hour, have no new emails, it makes it easier for me to focus on other things I want to spend my time on, like reading, talking to the people around me, or just taking some quiet time for myself.from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by Esther Gibbons
When you look around, at you friends, your co-workers, your family, your neighbours, how do you size up? Not in the sense of, how much do you make, who lives in a nicer neighbourhood, or who can run faster, but does anyone’s life make you think, I wish I was living their life? I turn to the radical Malcolm X for his sharp insight:“Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you’re both engaged in the same business – you know they’re doing something you’re not.”I try to apply this thought to the “business” of life. If there’s any life out there that really makes you think, man their life is so much better than mine, then they’re probably doing something you’re not. When I realize that someone else’s life is better than mine, it’s easy for me to victimize myself, I tell myself they’re just better than I am: those guys have a sweet job because they’re smarter than me, that girl’s too cool for me, that guy was born to write. The good news is, there’s an easy solution. Whatever you like in their life, you can just go out and get it. Of course, it’s easier said than done, a lot of patience is needed, and you’ll need to find the right people to help you. But still, the bottom line is the same, if you want a better life you can go out and get it. I had a track coach in college who always preached never putting any other runner up on a pedestal. He was adamant that you could beat anyone you wanted if you were willing to fight, but the moment you convinced yourself that someone else was out of your league, it was game over. I think there’s something wise to that. The news anchor Keith Olbermann had a similar thought:“The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you, you’re not enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job, ask anyone out, pursue any goal. Don’t take it personally when they say no – they may not be smart enough to say yes.”When we put other people on a pedestal I think we sell ourselves short. As long as you are bring true to yourself, you are great as who you are!I think ultimately, one of the ideals of life is to be living in such a way that you wouldn’t want to be living anybody else’s life. That’s part being satisfied with yourself, but also part going out and getting what you want. from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by kevindooley
I love the start of the day because it reflects hope for your day. A quote from the movie Hitch: “Start every day, as if it were on purpose.”
A great movie and a great quote. When I struggle out of bed in the morning, blindsided by my alarm, I stagger for a few moments. Then, I try my best to remember why I’m waking up instead of going back to sleep and doing nothing. My morning routine is so habitualized that I don’t really have to think through it, instead I work on reminding myself of my goals: being friendly and open with people, staying patient when things don’t go my way, be willing to take risks. I usually continue this process through my bike ride commute through an eerily peaceful downtown. The serene feel of the city and the morning in general really helps put me in the right mindset to take on the day. I also love the end of the day, but because it provides a little bit of time to reflect. At these times, I often turn to a pair of quotes by St. Francis de Sales and Mary Anne Radmacher: “Have patience with all thing, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Don’t lose courage in considering your own imperfections.”
“Courage does not always roar, sometimes, courage is the quiet voice at the end of the night whispering, I will try again tomorrow.”
It’s easy to only see the failures when you recollect on the day: I wish I hadn’t said that, I can’t believe I fell off my bike in front of all those people, I hate that I messed up again! But I think a lot of life is about courage. To accept those failures and to keep on failing. Maybe hoping that one day you’ll get the breaks, but also being ok if you don’t. At the end of the day, if you can honestly look yourself in the mirror, look at all the high points and low points of you day, and tell yourself that you wouldn’t want to be living any other life, well, that’s a pretty good end to a day! from ken Are you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by Vince Alongi
Surprise! Nothing is a big deal! I have a lot of trouble believing this, but I think I would like to. The other night, I didn’t have anything plans or obligations, so as I was heading out from work I was planning on going to the coffee shop for what my friend calls “only child time.” My last couple days had been fairly busy so I was really looking forward to having such a big chunk of time to do nothing. When I got home, much to my displeasure, some of my lights weren’t working. First, I decided to yell at my lights, and when they still didn’t work I messed with them until I figured out how to get the light bulbs out. Then, I walked all the way to the store (a couple minutes away by foot), and walked all the way back to put in my new light bulbs. Throughout this whole process I was getting all worked up because I had made this grand plan of spending hours relaxing at the coffee shop and my life wasn’t working out like I had planned. But eventually, as I got the whole ordeal sorted out, I realized, the whole thing had taken me a mere half an hour. I still had at least a solid two hours to spend at the coffee shop. I had a roommate in college that would always say, if it happens that’ll be fine and if it doesn’t that’d be fine too. It sounds simple, but I think he had it right. Robert Frost had a similar insight that I really look up to:“I can summarize everything I’ve learned about life in three words. It goes on.”Obviously, I knew my life wasn’t going to end over a couple of defunct light bulbs, but it sure felt like it. It’s easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment and believe that whatever is currently ruining your life is the biggest deal in the world. But it seems like life always has a way of ending up alright if we can just have the courage to wait it out. from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by pasotraspaso
“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I think that whisper Emerson is referring to is inspiration, and what inspiration can do is refocus us. Inspiration can come from anywhere, as long as we are willing to pay attention to it. Recently, I’ve been trying to make more of a conscious effort to slow down, which has really helped me to refocus on what I’m trying to do with my life. My commute is a great example of how I make my life too busy and block out that gentle whisper of inspiration. In the past I spent my commute trying to make every minute “productive,” listening to various podcasts or skimming through books I would never remember, but lately I’ve been trying to just sit tight and take in my surroundings. So, the other day on my commute I was zoning out and blankly looking out on the city and all the huge apartment complexes. Those big apartment complexes have always fascinated me for some reason. I think it’s because it reminds me of how big the world is, seeing all those dimly lit windows with people I’ll never meet. The strangest part is that every person in every one of those windows has an incredible story and is fighting a great battle. It really reminded me of the importance of every single person.Yesterday I saw an old friend from high school that I hadn’t seen in probably five years or so. We’re both pretty easy going, so we re-connected quickly and smoothly, as we reminisced on old times and shared our lives for the past few years. It felt great to remember the past and how lucky I was to grow up with such great friends. It also made me excited for all there is to still discover in the world, and to realize I still had so many more great friends to make. All those unknown rooms in those huge apartments, filled with perspectives I would have never even imagined and conversations yet to happen. All that from a morning commute!from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by williamcho
Have you ever felt like everything in your life was going right? Felt like years of hard work have finally paid off?Does everything you touch turn to gold?Some people may say that such a picturesque time is a fallacy and that you shouldn’t live for the successes and those perfect days. I heard some wise words that said, “Success is nothing, it is an accident.” I am definitely a recent convert to this sort of wisdom that puts the focus on the journey rather than the end destination. That was one of the important realizations that made me want to change my life and actually do more things I loved doing, not just loved the idea of doing. So you shouldn’t just live for the peak of the mountain, so to say, but it seems like every once in a long while, all the stars can align. And when they do, there’s really no reason not to sit back, appreciate all you’ve done, and enjoy the ride. Of course, it sounds obvious to enjoy the good times, but I know I have a tendency to push any victories off to the side, and immediately try to refocus myself on the journey. But sometimes it's good to celebrate.The best way I can describe this feeling is that I can see so many of the goals I set for myself coming together and crystallizing in front of my eyes. Really quick, two of these goals were: Get involved in a community: I feel like I’m really starting to love my church family and I’m starting to meet more and more people.Figure out what I want to do with my life: I love my time volunteering at the pediatrics clinic. In fact, it pains me to leave.Anyways, my friend and I referred to these times as “hot streaks,” and it reminds me of the importance of having purpose in life. Whenever you can see that your daily actions align with some sort of greater purpose you’ve set for your life, it really feels like your life is rolling, and just like that you’re on a hot streak.from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by Beverly and Pack
So I’ve been noticing a recurrent theme in my life, and it was brought up again in a recent New York Times column called Slumdog Tourism. The column discusses tourists who travel to slums in developing counties to see poverty first-hand. Presumably, these tourists are caring people who just want to understand the poverty behind the charities they generously donated to or have seen on TV, but the article argues that these tourists are harmful to the cause. The people who live in the tourist destinations are degraded and all they get in return is a little bit of pity money.This reminds me of a famous quote by Martin Luther King Jr.:“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s greatest stumbling block is not the White Citizens Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice. Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating that absolute understanding from people of ill will.”
These tourists are exactly the prototype for people King was frustrated with. They are probably just looking for an easy way to satisfy their conscience or to give off the impression that they care about global issues. They just want to read the latest New York Times bestseller about poverty reduction, donate some cash to a new trendy non-profit, throw around some statistics about AIDS, and generally seem like they care. I know this because I am one of those tourists. It’s way easier for me to give people who are homeless some money or food than to engage in their lives and daily struggles.I read a wise line from Shane Claiborne’s inspiring book, The Irresistible Revolution the other day that said,“Reducing poverty is big business, eliminating it is revolutionary.”
These days talk about poverty and donating to charities is at an all-time high. Helping people and creating a better world seems to be on everyone’s mind. Which is great, but it’s almost becoming a “pop sensation,” highlighted by the recent Haiti earthquake where people all over the world donated their hard-earned money to the relief cause. It’s great that people made that first step to write a check for Haiti, but who still thinks about that little country? Where are the people who are willing to get their hands dirty, and engage with poverty for the long-term and really work to eliminate it? I want to learn to have such compassion, and I know that such compassion can’t be born overnight, but rather developed over time. I guess the key is to be patient, and take small steps to try to engage yourself in a community and learn about their needs, hopes, and desires. To try to understand, and really care for people.from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.comphoto by Aaron Escobar
Meeting and Passing
By Robert Frost
As I went down the hill along the wall
There was a gate I had leaned at for the view
And had just turned from when I first saw you
As you came up the hill. We met.
But all We did that day was mingle great and small
Footprints in summer dust as if we drew
The figure of our being less than two
But more than one as yet. Your parasol
Pointed the decimal off with one deep thrust.
And all the time we talked you seemed to see
Something down there to smile at in the dust.
(Oh, it was without prejudice to me!)
Afterward I went past what you had passed
Before we met and you what I had passed.
I was just thinking about some old friends that I haven’t talked to in a while, and this poem came to my head. I memorized it when I spent a summer waiting tables at a ranch in Wyoming. At the time it was especially meaningful, knowing that the friends I was making were playing a huge role in my life at the time but I would probably never see them again after that summer. It’s definitely sad to completely lose touch with friends that seemed so close and important at the time, but it cheers me up to look back on our memories. I still remember the epic spontaneous hikes, almost dying while climbing Middle Teton, stealing brownies from the restaurant, working grueling 16 hour days, all the fun times that I will hopefully never forget about. I think, all that to say, relationships are fleeting. Not even the strongest of relationships can provide a guarantee that they will always be there. People grow apart, sometimes out of choice, but moreoften just because of circumstances that are out of our control. The most obvious one being, people changing location. That’s probably what makes moving so hard. I know that’s why it was hard for me. But I don’t think that just because relationships have an end, it means whatever relationships you have now are meaningless. In fact, it’s more the reason to cherish what you have now and appreciate the moment. It’s also a good reminder for me to try to catch up with some old friends.from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by pardeshi
One of my friend’s families took on an ambitious project of starting a local foods market in their hometown, a small town in rural Ohio. When the project finally came together, it was incredible, tons of people came to buy local maple syrup, beef, tomatoes, everything. They called their store Local Roots, and marketed the slogan “Cultivating Community.”I bought a t-shirt with their slogan on it, and it’s stuck with me ever since. As I’ve started to realize that friends are the point of life, I’ve been trying to cultivate community everywhere, especially in places that seem to lack it. One such place is the gym. Generally, when I go to the gym, I put in my headphones, zone in to my workout, and plug out an hour. That made me think, there must be a way to build community here! And as usual, there was an obvious option. I usually run in the mornings, and as I run past the handful of other people out before the sun is up, I wonder what makes these other runners get out here by themselves. Then I realized, why not start an early morning running group!When thinking about building community though, it’s easy to get caught up with the idea of community and forget about the people that are actually involved. I once heard an important quote that touches on this idea. “The man who loves community will bring it down, but the man who loves people will build community around him.”
You can’t go around working and trying to build this abstract concept of community. People don’t just come together for the sake of community. Rather, people come together because there are other people they like, care for, love. That’s what makes the second part of the quote make sense. People will come together, around a person who is their friend. So that’s a simple thing I’ve been trying to work on, just being a better friend.from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by Tracy O
There is something fundamental about sports like running, cycling, swimming, rowing, that make them different from sports like basketball or soccer. It’s hard to say what that is exactly, but I think it has to do with the fact that it really tests how hard you can, or want, to push yourself. As a result, those sports really teach you a lot.The legendary University of Oregon running coach Bill Bowerman once told his athletes:“Running, one might say, is an absurd pastime upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the kind of running required of you to stay on this team, perhaps you’ll find meaning in another absurd pastime: life.”
I have been running for the past eight years, which makes it the single activity in my life that I have been doing for the longest time. Through those eight years I have learned countless important lessons, one of the more important ones is brought up in John L. Parker’s epic novel Once A Runner. The protagonist, Quenton Cassidy, is a collegiate track athlete training for the Olympics. Being the stud athlete he is, everybody asks him questions about what he eats, whether he believes in stretching, what his resting heart rate was, how many hours of sleep he got, and so on. Cassidy’s answer to all this mess is simple:“The secret is this: there is no secret.”
He goes on to explain it is about simple hard work, and running countless miles. That’s the great thing about running. Surely, good genes can help, but being good at long distance running is largely about running those painful extra miles. I think the lesson here is an important one. When thinking about change and improving one’s life, the tendency is to look at the quick fixes and tricks that other people apply, here are some of the most common ones I’ve come across:Tired of your environment? Move!Sick of your job? Get new one!Tired of your exercise routine? Try yoga!Bored of your hobbies? Learn a musical instrument!Confused about your life? Write about it!I have taken up all these trick changes, hoping for a quick fix, which some of them have definitely provided. But at the same time, these quick fixes only last for so long. The hard truth is, there is no secret trick to improving your life. It just comes down to picking one or a few things you like and keep doing them, whether it’s running everyday, making an effort to be social, or working in your garden every weekend. This past week was pretty hectic, at the end of it I felt like giving up and scrapping a lot of my life projects - quitting my volunteer work, giving up training for the Portland Marathon, and so on. I’m not sure what exactly reminded me, but something brought me back and gave me the fuel to keep pushing through all the crap. I think, sometimes, you just have to love that feeling of being helpless and being completely overwhelmed. There are undoubtedly going to be times when you are that overwhelmed, and that’s certainly part of the deal of life, so you might as well love it. Or something like that?from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.comphoto by MartynvanDeelen
A quote from The Usual Suspects:“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
I am terrible at accepting criticism. It always makes me uncomfortable to see someone disappointed with me, probably because I like to see myself as flawless. I usually prefer to wade in the risk-free zone where I know I won’t make any mistakes. But I know it’s inevitable for other people to disagree with me if I want to carve out my own path to life, so I figured I should start getting used to being criticized and people being unhappy with me. I took on my reluctance to accept criticism head on as I was sitting in a disability training session. The discussion was supposed to teach us to how to interact with people with disabilities. Even though I consider myself to be a somewhat compassionate human being, I pretty much have zero experience with people with disabilities, so I figured this would be a good learning experience in caring for others. Knowing this would be a good opportunity to face my judgment of people who are different from me, I watched a video of how not to interact with people with disabilities, and I saw myself in those videos. Being patronizing, and convincing myself I was being polite, but really I was seeing people with disabilities as less than human. Coincidentally, I also started to notice how annoying the woman leading the discussion was. She was also ugly, she had bad breath, and in all likelihood she was the devil. Of course, this made me realize how quickly I get defensive even when someone is indirectly criticizing me. When somebody is revealing a side of you that you don’t want to see, it’s easy to respond by just jumping on their back. Way easier to judge someone else than yourself, I suppose. I think it’s necessary to allow yourself to be criticized, and expose yourself to that sort of brutally painful honesty. Without it, I would’ve just gone on judging people different than me as less than me. I will still do this, of course, but if I can get out of the denial zone where I convince myself that I am perfect, I can at least try to change. from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by clagnut
David Brooks had this insightful column in the New York Times today about a commencement speech given by an economist at Harvard Business School. The speech was about living a meaningful life by finding your life goal and allocating your time and energy around that goal. Specifically, the speech emphasized creating personal time for yourself outside of your career or your studies to pursue family time or friend time or hobby time, and help yourself figure out that vision.Brooks went on to add to the speech, articulating a second way of life focused on the moment. It was interesting for me to see these two ideas come head to head, as they are somewhat, but not completely, opposing ideas. He argues that young people can’t understand the meaning of abstract concepts like parenthood or old age until they are engaged in them, and it’s useless to try to plan so far ahead. He claims the big question these types of people ask is, “What are my circumstances asking me to do?” This question creates a lifestyle that is much more concrete and short-term, driven by situational awareness and rapid adaptation. I imagine the ideal life to be some combination of these two schools of life, thriving in the environment you happen to be in now, while keeping an eye out for new environments you want to try out. The current surroundings perspective makes my immediate decision-making more relevant, which is great because it makes every moment more real. Whenever I have some downtime, I can figure out something to do to impact my environment. I don’t need to wait around to make my surroundings a better place! On the other hand, the future goals perspective emphasizes the importance of change. It keeps me constantly tinkering with my life to figure out what new surroundings I want to put myself into. from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by ZeroOne
As I committed to changing myself, I noticed a crucial hurdle. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to change! Should I change everything? Just the little things? One big thing?I think it helps to look at the big negatives and especially the small positives. Inevitably, there are parts of life that continuously bring about unsatisfied or unhappy feelings. The key here is that it happens all the time. There are always going to be times when anybody hates any job, or any girlfriend, or any hobby, but you shouldn’t hate it ALL the time. Time is probably the ultimate limiting factor in changing your life. Making serious change is a big commitment and could take a lot of your time. Getting rid of baggage that you hate is always a good start to free up some space.That said, a lack of bad isn’t necessarily going to make your life good, so I think you need to look at the corollary and notice that quick flash of interest that comes up every now and then. Especially those that seem to keep coming up. It could just be a coincidence, but maybe it’s not. Maybe you’re hyper sensitive to it because you have an undiscovered passion for it! Think of the last time you saw someone doing something cool, and thought, “Wow, that’s so right.” I think there are things everybody innately believes is SO right, and maybe those things are your passions!This definitely occurred to me with the idea of music. I played piano when I was little, but other than that I was pretty much musically illiterate. Then, I started to notice a capella singers, street musicians, and friends who just looked so passionate when making and performing music. I kept thinking, “That’s so right.” Then I realized, maybe I need to take a cue from these guys and play music too!That’s why I love the concept of sidenotes. In my mind, a sidenote is that random intriguing flash that pops up every once in a while and makes you think, hey that looks kind of cool. But then you immediately dismiss it by making up excuses like, oh but that’s not for someone like me, maybe if I had the money, maybe if I wasn’t so busy with all this other stuff I have to do, and the list goes on. So often, I make those exact excuses, but when I really think about it, I do have some money stored up, I could make time for it if I really wanted to, and anybody can pick up a new hobby if they want. If I really think “that’s so right,” maybe there's something to it..from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by controltheweb
Initially, after you commit to changing something in your life, it feels really empowering. When I first moved out to Portland a couple months ago, I was wired. Usually, I find that exciting feeling continues as you make the first steps, buying a new bike, joining a book club, quitting your day job, whatever. But once you get past that point when you made that initial commitment, and when you get into the day to day of practicing that new hobby or working that new job, it can start to drag. Even if you’re following your heart and doing something you love, it’s a pain to get up before the sun rises to fit that run in, or pick up that guitar when you could just as easily vedge out and watch TV instead. At that stage, it’s pretty easy to get discouraged. I kind of expect my life to be continuously going upwards and always getting better, and I’m often caught off guard when I look at my life and find myself moving backwards. But of course, that’s part of the journey! Remembering this quote has really helped me:“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
- Arundhati Roy
Sidenote: I think this quote is actually about social change, but my favorite thing about quotes is that they can really mean whatever you want them to! Anyways, when you're in the messy middle of changing something in your life, and having to deal with the steep learning curve of learning something brand new, it’s important to keep the faith and remember that change comes slowly, and not always linearly. When you’re getting discouraged, it’s always great to look at how far you’ve come, and also how close you’re getting to another world. from kenAre you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by SergioTudela
