One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

I think I finally understand something about life. Nobody can love me exactly the way I can love myself. That doesn’t mean I don’t want people in my life. I do. I want good people around me. I want someone to have lunch with, laugh with, talk about golf with, and sometimes just say, “That was fun.” But I don’t need anyone to become the main character of my life. My life is already my life. So I came up with a new rule for my 60s: Life will be my show time. People can join the show. They can laugh with me. They can have lunch with me. They can even steal a little scene or two. But nobody gets to take over the stage. 😎 I spent many years trying to understand people and relationships. Now I think it can be much simpler. If someone makes my life warmer, funnier, or more interesting, welcome. If someone makes my life complicated, I can simply step back. No drama. No big goodbye speech. Just… “Okay, take care.” 😂😀 At 60, I finally know that loving someone does not mean giving them the ste...

Two weeks ago, I was driving to a golf course on a mountain road in Jeju. I was driving at around 65 km/h, following the speed limit, and I was in a good mood. I was looking forward to my round. Then, suddenly, a truck came out from the right. It happened so fast. I slammed on the brakes with all my strength and hit the horn as loudly as I could. For a moment, I honestly thought, This could have been a very serious accident. If I had reacted just one second later, things could have been completely different. There was also a small truck behind me, so I couldn't simply avoid the situation. Thankfully, the driver behind me reacted well, too. The truck that came out from the right, however, just drove away as if nothing had happened. I was stunned. But I didn't want to ruin my golf day. So I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, and went on to the golf course. I didn't tell anyone. I thought, Everyone came here to enjoy a good day of golf. Why bring this scary story into it?...

Yesterday, I had lunch with a close friend. The autumn sun was quite strong, but we did not want to go home right after lunch. So we decided to walk for about 30 minutes. There is a small park near my home called Jeongmosi Shelter , above Jeongbang Waterfall. I had discovered it while walking Ruby and Rich. It is surrounded by trees, so it is cool even on sunny days. A small stream runs through the park, and there are little waterfalls and stream along the way. I had always liked this place. But recently, I noticed something was changing. More and more flowers were being planted. I often wondered, Who is doing all this? Yesterday, I finally found out. Two people were working with the flowers in the park. They told us that they were slowly turning the park into a beautiful garden. I suddenly had so many questions. “What kind of flowers are you planting?” “When did you start?” “Are you changing the whole park?” “What kind of flower is this?” I kept asking questions. 😊 ...

Today, I like myself. It feels a little strange to say that. Golf can make me frustrated. Sometimes, it can drive me crazy. 😂 But today, I came home from the driving range feeling proud of myself. About nine months ago, my driver impact was pretty accurate. Since then, I took a break from practice, started again, and spent quite a while trying to figure out what was wrong with my swing. I practiced my 5-wood and 7-iron a lot. Little by little, I found and fixed several things in my swing. But my driver was still not quite right. I practiced my driver on Wednesday, and it still didn't feel right during my round on Thursday. Today was the first time I went back to the range after that. I kept hitting balls and thinking, What is wrong? Then I finally found it. I was putting too much tension into my left shoulder and arm. Because of that little bit of tension, my go-through was not natural. My balance was off. And that affected my impact. Then suddenly— CLICK! Ah! That's it! No on...

I think life is better when we live with people rather than completely alone. During COVID, many of my relationships naturally became distant. In some ways, that was a good experience for me. I learned that I could enjoy being alone. I learned that I could spend quiet days by myself and still be perfectly fine. But after a while, I realized something very simple. I actually like people. Maybe I have always been that way. I enjoy living alone, and I love my quiet time. But warm conversations, laughter, sharing a meal, playing golf together, or simply having a small connection with someone are still precious parts of my life. I just had to learn a different way of being with people. For a long time, I think I was a little bit of a dictator. ㅎㅎ Especially with my family. Because I was older and had experienced many things, I sometimes thought I knew more. So I would say, “Let's do this together.” “Let's go there.” “This will be fun!” And then I would organize all kinds of family e...

One of my chopsticks had been missing for almost two weeks. I looked everywhere in the kitchen. I checked the drawers, the dining table, and all the little corners where I might have accidentally put it. Nothing. I started wondering, “Where on earth did you go? Did you fly up to the sky, or did the ground swallow you?” 😄 The problem was that these chopsticks were part of a matching set. Only one chopstick was missing. Every time I ate, I had to use a different chopstick with it. It was such a small thing, but it kept bothering me. At one point, I even thought, “Maybe I should just throw the whole set away and buy a new one.” Then today, something unexpected happened. I was walking past a corner of my vegetable garden when I suddenly noticed something. Wait… is that it? It was my missing chopstick! I think I must have accidentally thrown it into the garden together with a huge pile of watermelon peels when I bought two watermelons and cut them up for the refrigerator...

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.”...

Rich loves going to new places. When we go for a walk, he sometimes turns in a direction we do not usually take. Then he pulls on his leash and makes little whining sounds. “I want to go that way!” When I am busy or not feeling well, I usually pull the leash back. “Rich, not today. Let’s go home.” But today was different. It was time to turn around and go home, but Rich suddenly turned toward a different road again. He pulled on his leash and whined. I looked at him for a moment and said, “Okay, Rich. Today is your lucky day. 😂💖 You want to go somewhere new and smell everything you can. Let’s go.” So today, I followed the road Rich wanted to take. We walked a little farther and went to a park where we could see the sea. Rich was very busy smelling everything around him. And I slowly followed him. There is one thing about Rich that still amazes me. Rich has always loved exploring new places. Before, he also loved walking in the direction where Ruby had her accident. But after I rescue...

Today was my hospital day. Every three months, I travel to a hospital in Jeju City for a regular checkup. It is quite far from my home, but I have continued going there because it is a general hospital and I also have detailed blood tests twice a year. So this morning, I made up my mind to take the bus. At 7:25 a.m., I arrived at the bus stop. Because there have been more COVID cases around lately, I was already thinking about the long bus ride with my mask on the whole way. I was standing just outside the bus stop, holding my mask in my hand so I could put it on as soon as the bus arrived. And then something unexpected happened. Someone I knew came walking toward me. “Where are you going?” “I’m going to Halla Hospital. I’m waiting for the bus.” “Oh, I’m going that way, too. Come with me in my car.” What?! 😂 I was simply waiting for the bus, and suddenly a car came instead. He is a restaurant owner who recently opened his second restaurant. We also happen to be members of the same gol...

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I said something to myself. “If I can’t avoid it, let’s enjoy it!!!!!!!!!!!!” These days, Ruby and Rich often wake me up one after another during the night. So I sometimes don’t get enough deep sleep, and I feel a little tired when I wake up. But what can I do? This is my life. So I decided to enjoy the day anyway. Today Was My Day to Work in My Field Today, I had decided to go to my field in Yong-su-ri. I packed my weed sprayer and headed out. But when I arrived, I was surprised. There were not many weeds. It had not rained for quite a while, and we had only had some rain during the last two days. The summer heat had also gone down a little. There were some weeds in one area, but instead of spraying weed killer, I decided to pull them out myself. Honestly, I don't feel completely comfortable using too much weed killer on my own land. So I spent about one hour pulling weeds by hand. And that wasn't all. I also cleaned up the ...