Tired and Happy

As the week is beginning to wind down, I'm feeling worn out. The only way I can explain how I feel is how I imagine everyone feels before the onset of a cold. My body is achy and my mind is exhausted. I'm not usually one to get sick, so I'm keeping optimistic and hoping that a good night's rest will help.

I am continuing to make progress with my Japanese. I'm learning important questions like すみません。いまなんじですか (Excuse me. What time is it now?) and more useful phrases like どうぞよろしく (Nice to meet you). Though my schedule is busy, I am still able to find time to sit down and spend an hour or two reading through my book each day.

Shifting focus a little bit, I'm enjoying this part of my life a lot. As my mother once put it so easily, "It's a great time of [my] life to be single and 'selfish'." I won't define selfish here in the traditional sense. It's simply a good time to concentrate on myself and my future. Sometimes being single gets a little lonely, but I'm currently happier than I've been in a long time. In my life, happiness takes priority. I'm not sure I could be at this point in my life without being happy.

In Japanese, the word for happy (content) is しあわせな, but I believe another word for it is うれし. It has been said that happiness is not to be sought after, but rather it should find you. Happiness is a hard word to define because everyone has their own ideas of what it means to them. I have my own definition(s) of happiness. I hope to continue down the road I am currently traveling. I hope to continue to befriend many wonderful and supportive people. I hope to transition well between college and my future career. I hope to travel in an effort to learn and grow. I hope to continue to broaden my existing horizons and develop new ones in an effort to better understand the world around me. I hope to meet a wonderful person someday at the right time in my life. I hope to experience true love and grow a deep level of trust and appreciation for that individual. I hope to raise a happy and healthy family. I hope to take part in my childrens growth and I hope to be as much of a teacher for them as they will be for me. I want to love my children unconditionally. I want to grow old with my partner and watch my children have children and raise happy and healthy families. I want to give to them what I've gained from everything I've experienced. I still have so much to live for, but from what I've already experienced, I'm convinced that I'm on the right track.

My journey to Japan will only help to point me onward and upward.