Because today is the first time every day for me

I start each day with new expectations and resolutions.

“Today is the first day of my life.”

Dawn feels like the first precious time in my life. In this way, today remains a shining page in my life.

To me, living a meaningful day is directly connected to writing. Life before and after writing is clearly different.

Me before writing

Before writing, I was just passively living the life I was given. My goal was to open my eyes in the morning and finish the day safely. The day passed quickly just by breathing, eating, and completing the work. If there was something that needed to be done, I just did it, and when it was done, I took a break without thinking about it. As each day passed by, I just felt, ‘Today passed safely too.’

As a hobby, I also spent my time riding a bicycle and hiking. It looked interesting on the surface, but I didn’t feel its depth. Even though I met people, had conversations, and looked at beautiful scenery, I didn’t feel like something was being filled inside me. I have never thought about how precious the world I see is or what those experiences mean to me. The feel of the wind and the warmth of people were just part of the day.

Even as I lived my life, I did not seriously think about its purpose. “You just have to live with what you’re given,” he reassured himself, and tried not to ask me important questions. So I was living a colorless, repetitive day, losing the color inside me.

“If you don’t live the way you think, sooner or later you will start thinking the way you live.” — Paul Valery

Me after writing

As I started writing, my life gradually became more colorful and deeper. Now, instead of being trapped in a given framework, I am paving my own path little by little. Rather than accepting the fate that the world throws at me, I am writing my own story by refining it in my own way. I looked back at myself through writing and began to realize the stories hidden within me one by one. As the little voices sleeping inside me awakened, I came to understand myself more deeply, and because of that, my perspective on the world became more relaxed.

Before, I didn’t have much interest in the world and didn’t even try to take care of myself. However, since I started writing, I have been discovering my true self by looking into and recording my own stories. I realized it in the process. That I never truly knew myself.

At first, I never imagined that my thoughts or stories could reach other people. However, as I wrote and went through the process of finding a flow and organizing the stories in my mind into words and sentences, what I felt became increasingly clear. If my story can provide a small resonance to someone, I feel that that alone is meaningful enough.

“You can’t go back to the past and start over, but you can create a new ending starting now.” — Karl Barth

Writing that nurtures my heart

Writing is like the process of organizing my mind. I calmly organize my precious stories in a drawer in my heart and create my own space in my own way. As I write, I quietly observe each scene of my life and slowly reflect on the emotions and thoughts found therein. In the process of finding that inner connection, one story leads to another, and that story enriches my life.

At first, this journey felt confusing and overwhelming, but now I see every day as a new beginning of my story. When I think that today’s moment adds another page to my life, each day feels new and the way I look at the scenes of my life becomes more enjoyable.