Happy Writing Marathon #31 | What kind of person would you be happy to be one year from today?

Good evening, this is Mother Penguin🐧✨️

The theme for this week's Happy Writing Marathon is 'What kind of person would you be happy to be one year from today?'

Ken Honda says that he chose this theme so that we can feel the excitement of welcoming a new year, focusing on the 'future we believe in.'

I personally feel as if I've received a New Year's gift from Ken Honda in the form of a 'theme that makes you feel excited'✨️

Now, I will write about this theme.

For the past few years, I have been living my life putting myself last.

At the end of the year, I fell ill, and that brought an end to that way of life.

I have parents who need nursing care, and I also have children who still need support from me as their parent.

For the past few years, I have spent my time organizing the lives of my parents.

I have really put my son, who helps me with the nursing care, through a difficult time.

By this time next year, I want my son's hard work to be rewarded, and I want to help him manifest the world he desires.

Next year, I want our whole family to go to an aquarium with penguins, which my son loves, observe more wild birds, and help make my son's penguin drawings better known and loved by everyone.

I am excitedly imagining a future next year where my son's ideal—his penguin artwork—reaches someone's hands and brings them joy.

Although my parents are currently in a situation where they need nursing care, fortunately, the facility staff, home helpers, and my older brother are all looking after them with me. I am grateful every day to everyone who supports my parents' lives alongside me.

Until now, the harder I tried to take care of my parents, the more our family's energy was depleted, and life did not head in a good direction.

I felt that 'I must be doing something wrong.'

That does not mean I should have just abandoned my parents.

It meant that I needed to 'set better boundaries' with my parents.

I realized that I should not spend time on my parents at the expense of my own happiness or, even more so, the happy time of my precious children.

Having an Emotion Code session with 'Ayako-san,' whom I connected with through the Happy Writing Marathon, was the catalyst for me to reach this realization.

Ayako-san, thank you.

I feel that by valuing our own time, we can also have a positive influence on our parents.

I feel that this is also a message I have consistently received from Ken Honda throughout the Happy Writing Marathon.

Ken Honda-san, I am grateful for this topic and for the connections that continue to grow through writing these notes.

Thank you for reading my blog.

May 2026 be a wonderful year for everyone✨️