"Playing games again?" A single word from my wife changed my life!

Hello, I'm Mike.


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　For those fathers in their 50s
　who feel a bit taken for granted at home
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From your wife,
"Playing games again?"
Have you ever felt a little bothered
by a casual remark like that?

Are you respected by your family?
If asked this suddenly,
doesn't it make you feel a bit startled?

Two years ago, I couldn't look away
from these words.

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　Am I being looked down on?
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I'm an executive at my company. I should be quite a big shot.
I've also been running marathons for 20 years. For an older guy,
I'm a sportsman.
I haven't left my family wanting for anything, I assume.

And yet,
I felt like I had been reduced to just an "old guy"
at home.

After dinner one day,
I got hung up on a casual remark from my wife.

"Playing games again?"

I don't think there was any malice in the way she said it.
But with that one remark,

"This guy is still doing that kind of thing."
I felt like that's what she thought of me.

I had assumed that atmosphere on my own.
It wasn't anger.
It wasn't a feeling of blame either.



I just felt this, quietly.
Ah, I'm not being respected.


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　There's no way I can stay like this
　I wanted to change something
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I have no intention of changing jobs.
I like my current job.


But when I imagined myself reaching retirement age
staying in the same place without anything changing,

I felt a little scared somehow.
So,
I decided to take on the Administrative Scrivener exam.

It wasn't that anything would do.
I wanted something I could proudly say
I was working hard at.
That was the Administrative Scrivener exam.

I didn't consult anyone.
I decided on my own.

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　By declaring it, I cut off my escape route
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I told my family.
"I'm going to become an Administrative Scrivener!"

Cutting off my retreat has been my way of doing things for a long time.
It was the same with marathons.

"I'll do it!"
Because I say it out loud, I can't quit halfway through.


I didn't tell anyone at the company.
I only told one friend, who is the same age as me.


He was also taking qualification exams.
He was an engineer at an executive level
at a similar small-to-medium enterprise in Tokyo,
and our circumstances were similar.

We met every time I was on a business trip,
and while having a drink after work,
we talked about how things were going.

It wasn't about encouragement, nor was it about comfort.
It was just that a man who was looking at the same scenery
was by my side.

That was enough.

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　First year, failed
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It was frustrating.
But it was also within expectations.
That's why I didn't quit.

On the day of the second-year results announcement,
my daughter, who lives far away, happened to be back home.

That day, I was at work.
At my office desk,
I opened the website at the time of the results announcement.

However, the connection was slow and wouldn't connect.
My wife and daughter were apparently waiting at home.
"How was it?"
Waiting for that one word, moment by moment.

Thirty minutes after the announcement,
the screen finally changed.

I found my examinee number.
For a moment, time stopped.

"It's there..."

I muttered just that,
and sent the screen with my exam ticket and the passing number.

A few seconds later, the phone rang.

"Congratulations!!!"
　　"Congrats—congrats—"

My daughter's voice and my wife's voice overlapped.

The scene on the other end
clearly came to mind.
The two of them looking at each other,
and laughing.

After hanging up the phone,
I couldn't focus on work for a while.
What made me happy
wasn't just that I passed.

They were that happy for me.
That fact
was what made me happiest of all.

It might be an exaggeration.
But in that moment,
something as a husband
felt like it had truly returned.

Dignity, self-respect,
words like those came to mind.

But the truth is much simpler.

"I'm glad..."

That was all it was.

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　What changed, my family or me?
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Two years after I started the challenge.
When I held the acceptance notice in my hands,

Before I thought "I did it!"
my family's faces came to mind.

I feel like something has changed.
No, to be precise,

something inside me changed.

I gained one thing I could be proud of.
That alone was enough.

P.S.
To fathers in their 50s
You cannot bring your job title home.
Your salary and position don't matter to your family.

But—
the sight of you taking on a challenge will definitely reach them.

You don't need to put it into words.
You don't need to explain it.

Just,
the back of you sitting at your desk today.
The back of you taking one step at a time today.
That back is the most eloquent of all.

That decision on that day
was the first step toward
the "way of living without depending on a company" I have now.

The book "Creating a Way of Living Without Depending on a Company in Your 50s"
currently on sale on Amazon,
is now being distributed for free.

✅ Recommended for those who want to start a new challenge in their 50s
Check it out here👇