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...

I am not an excellent cook. I would say I am somewhere in the middle. Some people are truly talented at cooking. Their dishes look and taste special, and I admire them. My cooking is much more ordinary. 😁💗 But I enjoy making my own meals, especially when I can use fresh vegetables from my little garden. This morning, I picked some chives from my yard and cooked them with tomatoes, onions, and eggs. I added a little oyster sauce this time, and the result was delicious! I have learned that eating healthy does not mean I have to eat bland food every day. I enjoy food, so I want my meals to be both healthy and tasty. Growing chives also takes a little work. People might think you can simply plant them and let them grow, but I need to remove weeds by hand, add a little fertilizer, and cut and clean the chives one by one before cooking. The last part is probably the most tiring! Still, my chives grow beautifully without pesticides, and I can enjoy fresh ones from my own garden almost all y...

It rained heavily in Jeju today. I went to the driving range and enjoyed hitting golf balls. But the rain became so heavy that I started worrying about Ruby and Rich at home. After about 40 minutes of practice, I decided to head home. Luckily, both dogs were safe and dry. They seemed to have stayed in the storage shed to avoid the rain. Then I thought about Ruby. Ruby never gets wet if she can help it. She loves going outside, but she hates wet grass. She may go there once to do her business, but after that, she refuses to walk on the same wet grass again. Instead, she carefully steps on stones or finds dry places to walk. And muddy puddles? Absolutely not! Usually, Ruby follows me wherever I go without any trouble. But when she sees a dirty or wet place, she suddenly has very strong opinions. I can almost hear her saying, “Mom, I love going outside. But surely you don't expect me to walk through THAT!” It makes me laugh every time. Ruby is also surprisingly clean. Her body rarely ...

This morning, I had a golf game scheduled for 8 a.m. I had been checking the weather forecast since early morning. The rain looked heavy, and I thought it might be better to cancel. However, when I called the golf course, they said the weather was fine enough to play nine holes. So I got dressed and left home. But there was something else on my mind. Before leaving, I heard thunder and saw lightning. Rich, who is usually a very brave dog, gets terribly frightened during thunderstorms. He trembles and has a hard time. As I opened the door, Rich lowered his tail and stayed close behind me, as if he were saying, “Mom, where are you going? It's thundering. Don't leave me!” It broke my heart to leave him like that. Still, I had made a promise to meet the other golfers. Some of them were coming from far away, and I felt that keeping our plans mattered, too. Since the golf course was only about 15 minutes away, I decided to go, say hello to everyone, and come back quickly if the game ...

Over the past year, I have noticed a few small changes in myself. Until last year, I rarely kept pain relief patches at home. Of course, I sometimes bought them when I really needed one. But I never thought about keeping them in the house. These days, however, I feel a little uncomfortable when I run out of them. It is almost like not having Tylenol in my medicine cabinet. So whenever I go to the pharmacy, I usually buy some patches to keep at home. I never paid much attention to these patches before. I thought I could simply wait a few days whenever my muscles felt tired or sore. But one day, I tried wearing a patch for a day after my muscles became tired. To my surprise, I felt much better the next day! Since then, I have changed my habit. Instead of putting up with muscle pain for several days, I use a patch when I need one. I guess I am learning to take better care of myself. My Body Needs a Little Rest, Too Recently, my golf shots were not going well, so I went to the driving rang...

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...