What I realized two years after being scolded by an Indian man for neglecting my 'life'

When I tried taking 'life' seriously, I didn't have the luxury of working eight hours a day.

When I tweeted that, it got an incredible response.

So many people interpreted it and gave me unexpected reactions, so I'd like to break down why I wrote that tweet.

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As a major premise, I am a super city girl. I have few relatives and almost no opportunity to experience the countryside. Since my mother was ill, I was taken care of by convenience store bento boxes and beef bowls from a young age.

The reason I started to become a little conscious of 'life' with that kind of upbringing was this one phrase I encountered two years ago while traveling alone in India.

You might be working.
But you aren't 'living'.

'Don't neglect your life!' the innkeeper scolded me.

Actually, my mother often scolded me for the exact same thing.

'Kayoko's life has no living in it. You need to live properly.'

My 'life' at the time was like this.

I didn't eat breakfast. I always woke up at the last minute, so I had no time. For lunch and dinner, I ate out or at a convenience store. When I was busy, I would sometimes skip lunch. Then I would come home on almost the last train and collapse into bed. That was the cycle.

On weekends, I would either go to the office, show my face at IT events, or sleep like the dead. Sometimes the sun would set by the time I woke up.

That was my lifestyle, but I didn't think of myself as a 'corporate slave.' I loved my work, and above all, I loved the people at the company, and it was fun working with them. Every day was fulfilling.

That's why I thought, 'What do you mean, live properly?'

When there are so many people in the world who only complain about their jobs, isn't it actually a good thing that I'm working hard?

Laundry, cleaning, and cooking are low priority. Work, study, and meeting people are more meaningful than that.

I should just outsource all the troublesome stuff.

I continued working like that at an IT venture in Shibuya for about three years. I graduated from that company, and I went to India because I wanted to refresh my feelings between my second job change.

Kayoko, listen well.
Eating out is trash.

Rishikesh, North India. It is a sacred place for meditation and yoga, where even the Beatles and Steve Jobs went to meditate.

The man at the guesthouse where I stayed there somehow saw right through my lifestyle in Tokyo and scolded me.

"You may be working, but you are not 'living'."

He further said, "Kayoko, listen carefully: eating out is garbage."

I protested that it was rude to the restaurant industry, but the man continued.

"Eat freshly cooked meals that you have made yourself."

"If that is not possible, eat something that someone else has made with you in mind."

"Cooking meals, washing clothes, keeping your home clean. Everything is something you must do under your own responsibility. Being mindful of each and every thing. That is what is important."

I was dumbfounded by his nerve to call eating out 'garbage,' but what he meant to say remained stubbornly in a corner of my heart.

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After returning to Japan, although what was said in India bothered me, I ended up living the same 'life' as before. I got a new job and my annual income increased significantly.

However, I could not achieve the results I expected, and I broke both my mind and body, resigning in less than a year.

Since then, I began to think more seriously about 'what true wealth is,' and I decided to go on a trip around the world, which had been a dream of mine for a long time.

It is a journey to pursue my own version of well-being.

Arriving in the middle of my trip around the world,
life in the Japanese countryside

I want to see 'life outside of Tokyo'.

If I were to go around hitting all the tourist spots, it would probably be better to go to as many countries as possible, but I wanted to try doing it more slowly.

A trip that is not focused on sightseeing, but rather like trying on a lifestyle.

I returned to Japan temporarily due to various circumstances after reaching Israel, and since I was already back, I decided to try 'living in the Japanese countryside.' Through a stroke of luck, I am now writing this on a remote island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Here, I finally tried 'living' seriously. In other words, 'making three meals a day myself, doing laundry, cleaning, walking the dog, exercising a little, reading, taking naps, and going to bed and waking up early'.

It was almost the first time I had spent my days with living itself as the purpose, rather than as a series of chores.

When I actually tried it, the days flew by so quickly, and the casual, everyday things felt so happy that I was foolishly moved, wondering if living was really this simple.

Living is such a wonderful and difficult thing.

I realized painfully that I had been skipping such a difficult task, outsourcing it, and carelessly leaving it to others.

I want to live my own time properly.

Living your own time does not mean "let's stop outsourcing and do everything carefully by ourselves."

People have times when they want to forget about eating and sleeping to work on something or work with passion, and times when they want to prioritize spending time with loved ones; both are valid.

However, no matter what way of life you choose, I want to be conscious of how I spend my time.

What do I want to do, and how do I want to be?

If you cannot answer this question, you will fall victim to "time thieves."

And I want to never forget that my life is supported by the invisible support and systems of many people at all times.

Being able to eat out, or even being able to buy groceries at a supermarket without having to farm them myself, was never something to be taken for granted.

I want to be grateful for the cycle of nature and the economy, and “be fully aware of who I am producing for, what I am producing, what kind of consumption I am engaging in, and who is supporting me.”

“Cooking meals, washing clothes, keeping your home clean. These are all things you must do under your own responsibility. Being mindful of each one. That is what is important.”

I feel like I am finally beginning to understand the meaning of what that man said.