One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

These days, I sometimes feel a quiet happiness even when nothing special happens. I spend an ordinary day in Jeju. I look at Ruby and Rich and find myself smiling for no particular reason. When I practice golf and discover a movement I did not understand before, I feel excited. I also enjoy sitting down and writing about the things that happened during my day. Then, one day, a thought came to me. I am living my life well. And as I thought about it a little more, another feeling came to my heart. I have lived my life well so far, too. The person I am today did not appear overnight. The years I spent working, the time I spent studying in a new place, the life I built after moving to Jeju, and all the days I made my own decisions and took responsibility for them have brought me here. Of course, not every day was good. I made choices I sometimes regretted. There were difficult times, and there were moments when things did not go as I had hoped. Sometimes, my body needed a rest, and I had t...

Today, I finally fixed something that had been bothering me for years. It was the wall above my bed. I had tried different things before, including a fabric picture that never quite looked right. For two or three years, I simply left it there, even though it bothered me whenever I looked at it. Today, I decided to do something about it. I thought it would be a simple job. Just attach some palm boards to the wall, and I would be done. Of course, things didn't go as planned. The wallpaper behind the boards was poorly attached, so I had to remove it. Then I discovered that the palm boards were slightly too small. Oh, no! Luckily, I had kept some leftover wallpaper. It turned out to be exactly what I needed to cover the missing part. After measuring, adjusting, and pinning everything into place, I finally finished the job. The result wasn't absolutely perfect. The boards above my bed are a little crooked. Funny enough, I had done a better job with the much larger boards in my livin...

Have you ever made your home feel like a different place for less than $50? Yesterday, I gave my living room a complete makeover with foam wall panels that cost only 38,000 won. I also covered my sofa with a beautiful fabric cover I had bought some time ago. The whole room feels different now. When I sit on my sofa, I feel as if I have checked into a lovely new hotel. But the best part isn't the money I saved. It's the feeling of accomplishment. The job required some help, but I decided to challenge myself and see if I could do it. And I did it without failing! That little success gave me more confidence in myself. Sometimes, trying something new and discovering that we can actually do it is more rewarding than we expect. Now, I have something else to look forward to. In front of my house, a row of yellow chrysanthemums is growing beside my vegetable garden. Each flower is small, but the bushes are covered with so many little blooms. In about a week, I expect to see them in ful...

I Enjoy My Life on My Own Today, everything seemed to fall into place. About two weeks ago, around Chuseok, I bought a tumbler. It came with a drink coupon, and I had kept it for about two weeks. Today, I suddenly thought, “I’d better use it before I lose it.” 😄 So I went to a café and ordered a café latte. I filled my favorite green tumbler with it. My first little extra of the day: a free café latte. It was something small, but it made me happy. Then I noticed a small problem with my glasses. I thought, “I should get this fixed today.” So I went to my regular optician. I don’t go there very often, but it is the shop I have used for a long time whenever I need something for my glasses. They fixed my glasses right away. For free. But that wasn’t the end of it. I was looking at some sports sunglasses because I wanted a pair for golf. I found one I really liked. I said, “These would be nice for golf.” The owner said, “Just take them. They’re not that expensive.”...

Something feels different these days. There were times when I felt like I was alone in the world. But that feeling has slowly faded. Since I started my blog, more and more people have quietly found my little corner of life. And now, I am getting close to 20,000 visitors . Only 299 more to go.   But honestly, the number is not the most important part. What makes me happy is realizing this: There are people somewhere in the world who think like me. I do not need to be surrounded by people all the time. I just like living my own life, and sometimes finding someone who quietly says, “Me too.” That is enough. Tomorrow is Chuseok, one of Korea's major holidays. But these days, families do not always gather in one place. People have their own lives, their own homes, and their own routines. So I will spend the holiday in my usual way. Today, I went to the golf range. I am slowly finding the swing feeling I had before my finger started hurting. And I remembered aga...

These days, I’m having a lot of fun just living my everyday life. For a while, especially after COVID, I thought a lot about living a life on my own. I think many people did. Being alone can be comfortable. You don’t have to worry about other people, and you can simply do whatever you want. But these days, my thoughts have changed quite a bit. The better our relationships with people are, the more enjoyable life becomes. I don’t mean that we need to meet lots of people. I simply mean being a little warmer and kinder to the people we happen to meet throughout the day. Sometimes, that alone can make an ordinary day feel much better. Something like that happened this morning. The forecast said it was going to rain all morning, so I had decided not to go to the driving range. But suddenly, the weather changed. “Oh? Maybe I can go after all!” So I quickly got ready and went to the driving range a little later than usual. But when I arrived, there wasn’t a single spot available on the first ...

This morning, I was sitting in my living room, working on my notebook. I was quietly focused on my computer when I suddenly felt something. I looked up. Ruby was sitting on her bed, watching me. It wasn't unusual. Ruby often watches me like that. But this time, I stopped what I was doing and looked back into her eyes. We just looked at each other for a brief moment. Maybe a minute. Nothing special was happening. She didn't want food. She didn't want to go for a walk. She wasn't asking me for anything. She was simply looking at me. And I looked back at her warmly. Then I turned back to my computer and continued writing. About a minute later, I happened to look over at her again. Ruby's head had slowly fallen down. She was already asleep. I smiled. That's all that happened. But somehow, that one little moment touched me deeply. To be honest, I wasn't always someone who particularly loved dogs. When Ruby and Rich first became part of my l...

At the beginning of this week, I didn't have any special plans. The rainy season had just begun, and the weather forecast called for rain throughout the week. I thought it would be a quiet, uneventful few days. But life has a funny way of surprising us. Yesterday, I was unexpectedly invited to play golf with good people. That same evening, my younger sister quietly sent me a box of fresh corn and vegetables without saying much. Earlier in the week, I also received a call from the police asking if I could help as an interpreter. Normally, I wouldn't have been available in the evening, but because it was exam week, my schedule happened to be open at exactly the right time. Sometimes I feel that life brings me unexpected blessings more often than hardships. When I was young, my mother often joked that I had been born with good financial luck. Believe it or not, she said that on the very day I was born, my father won a lottery prize and brought home more money than usual. Whether t...