One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

A cold wind suddenly arrived yesterday. Just a few days ago, it still felt like autumn. Now, it feels like winter is just around the corner. This morning, I opened the window and immediately felt the cold air. “Wow, it’s cold!” So I put on warm winter pants and a warm jacket. But I didn’t close the window. I wanted to breathe in the cool autumn air as much as I could. I like this kind of weather. Then I started thinking about yesterday’s golf round. There were golfers in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Just before teeing off, my younger golf buddy, who is in her 50s, suddenly said, “Oh, I left my arm brace in the car. My arm hurts, so I need to wear it.” And one of the older golfers in his 70s had a small bandage around his right little finger. He told me he had been having a problem with it for about two months. Eventually, he decided to have surgery this winter. I looked at them and laughed. Then I said, “As we get older, it would actually be strange to be perfectly healthy. 😊” At the time...

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...

While watching a movie, I heard a sentence that stayed with me. It said that when two people meet, especially when they get married, it is like two rivers coming together. But we should not sacrifice ourselves just to fill the other person's river. I had never heard this expression before, and I found it very interesting. In my parents' generation, people often made many sacrifices to support each other. That was how they showed love and kept their marriages together. But times have changed. In Korea, many couples now share their wedding expenses equally. At first, this idea felt a little strange to me as someone over 60. But gradually, I began to understand it. Sharing wedding expenses equally is not just about money. Perhaps it also means that both people want to live as equals after marriage. Now that I am over 60, I have come to believe that this kind of balance matters in all human relationships, not just marriage. By balance, I do not mean that everything must be divided ...

Now that I’ve lived to 60, I’ve realized something . Getting older doesn’t necessarily mean that your heart gets older, too. My heart is still in its twenties sometimes. When I want to do something, I want to try it. When I see something new, I get curious. And when there’s something I really want to do well, I still get ambitious. Today was a perfect example. I went to the golf practice range, and for some reason, the swing that worked so beautifully yesterday just wouldn’t work today. At first, I made a small adjustment. Nope. I changed something else. Still no. Before I knew it, golf practice had turned into a battle between me and my swing. “Why isn’t this working?” I gave myself so many sarcastic little smiles. 😏 There I was, 60 years old, holding a golf club and acting like a competitive twenty-something. Eventually, after changing this and that, I managed to get about 80% of my swing back. But by then, both my body and my mind were pretty much wrecked from the battle. ㅎㅎ And th...

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...