One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

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. 😊 ...

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...

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 ...

It rained a lot yesterday and today. I had actually been waiting for the rain. A while ago, I planted cabbage seeds in my little vegetable garden. Soon, tiny cabbages began growing everywhere, very close together. They were still baby cabbages, not big mature heads. I have been thinning them out little by little and eating the small ones as they grow. The problem is that bugs love cabbage. When the seedlings first appeared, I saw quite a few bugs, so I used a little insecticide. But then, almost no rain came. I kept watering the garden with tap water, but I still felt a little uneasy about eating the cabbages. So I waited. I wanted to wait for a good amount of rain before I started eating them. Finally, yesterday and today, we had plenty of rain. After the rain, I went out to my garden. The wet black Jeju stones were shining, and the little green cabbages were everywhere. Today, I picked a few of the baby cabbages. I washed them well and made a simple Korean soybean past...

or a long time, I was the kind of person who chose the cheaper option whenever I bought something. Even when I liked something more expensive, I often thought, “Something a little cheaper will be fine.” If two things looked similar and did almost the same job, why spend more? I thought that was the smart and responsible way to live. But lately, something has changed. Last year, I replaced my golf clubs. I chose the XXIO Royal Edition — driver, woods, utility clubs, and irons. Since I love golf and actually use my clubs all the time, I decided to choose what I truly liked. And this year, I bought something much smaller. A Starbucks tumbler. It cost 38,000 won (US$28)😁😃. I actually thought about it for quite a while. I could have bought a similar tumbler for less. But this time, I asked myself three questions. Do I really like it? Will I use it for a long time? Will it actually make my everyday life a little better? The answer was yes to all three. So I bought it. And strangely enough,...