"Sooner or later, sooner or later" - how long will you wait?
Actually, I have decided to go abroad twice this year.
It has been five years since I last went abroad. Since I don't usually have any connection to overseas work, going abroad twice in one year is a very unusual plan for me, but...
One day, the thought came to me: "How long are you going to wait?"
I assume most of you don't know my background, so let me tell you a little bit about it...
Having had an interest in and longing for different cultures since I was a child,
I studied abroad in France when I was 20 and experienced living overseas for the first time.
Thanks to the French I studied so diligently during my student days, even after returning to Japan,
I worked for a long time at a French-affiliated foreign company, worked with French people, and even attended a school for training French interpreters. France has been an inseparable part of my life, but...
Looking back, the last time I went to France was in 2013...
It has been 12 years since I last visited France.
During these 12 years, there were various reasons that kept me away from France, such as giving birth to my child and the COVID-19 pandemic.
I had always, always wanted to go to France, but along with various excuses,
"I'll go sooner or later," "I'll go sooner or later"... I kept saying that, and before I knew it, 12 years had passed!!
"I'll go when my child gets a little older."
"I'll go when I have a little more money to spare."
"I'll go when COVID settles down."
"I'll go when the war between Russia and Ukraine ends."
"I'll go when the weak yen stabilizes."
Over these 12 years, I repeated "I'll go when..." over and over again,
and I finally realized something.
If I keep waiting for "when..." to happen, the right time to go will never come!
"How long are you going to wait?"
So, I stopped waiting!
I'm going to France in April. And since I have a friend from university living in Italy whom I've been telling "I'll visit you someday!" but never have,
I'm going to stop by Italy as well.
The story of the American friend I never got to meet
I am currently 46 years old. My children are still young, so I intend to live a long and healthy life, but even so, you never know when or how life might end.
That is why I decided to eliminate "someday" as much as possible.
I have an American family I have known for 30 years. We first met when I was 16.
Thirty years ago, we traveled the West Coast together with the father, mother, and two sons of that family, along with my own family and some friends of my parents.
Since then, we have met up whenever the American family came to Japan.
About 12 years ago, when they came to Japan, they invited me,
"We're going on a trip to Hawaii soon, why don't you join us, Reiko?"
At that time, I thought,
"I'm too busy with work to take time off..."
"It seems like it would cost quite a bit of money..."
For those reasons, I gave up on going to Hawaii, and I haven't seen them since... The father of that family passed away from cancer about two years ago after a battle with the illness.
When I found out, I realized.
"Sooner or later."
"Sooner or later."
While you are saying things like that, something can happen that makes it impossible to fulfill your wishes.
You might end up never being able to see the people you want to see.
Is it true that you "can't do it now"?
"Even if you tell me to 'do it right away,' it's not that easy to just do it..."
Some people reading this post might be thinking that.
At times like that, the first thing I want you to ask yourself is,
"Is that true?"
Have you considered every possible means to make it happen?
Instead of saying you can't do it, have you thought about what you can do to make it possible?
If you think you cannot take such a risk, then perhaps it is not something you truly desire from the bottom of your heart.
Life is short,
"Sooner or later" may never come.
How long will you wait for "sooner or later"?