Because it's a free country, I get to choose

Having things you want to do but hesitating and failing to take the first step, complaining about your current company, or badmouthing the boyfriend you're dating.

These things aren't exactly rare, but I always find myself thinking, 'Um, what are you fighting against?'

That is probably because I myself have often felt a lack of freedom in the past.

Even if I wanted to fight with my parents, run out of the house, hop on a train, and zip off somewhere, there were no trains in the corner of California where I lived, and the only buses were school buses, so at best I could only go around the block and come back.

Even if I struggled to make my dreams come true, I had no way to earn money, and since there was no prospect of getting funding, I had no choice but to choose the path of employment.

It is precisely because I worried about things I couldn't help due to the environment I was placed in that I have a strong belief that 'there is no need to endure things in situations you can change yourself.'

As an adult, you can change most things yourself.

For some reason, many people don't know this fact.

Going to work with a sour face is something you chose to do; no one ordered you to 'work there for the rest of your life.'

Playing the victim while letting your dissatisfaction grow toward someone who treats you poorly is not something someone instructed you to do by saying, 'Stay with this person.'

Even though no one told you to do this or that, you are the one who chooses to give up and stay there, saying, 'But I have no choice!'

The title 'Because it's a free country' is the name of a Morning Musume song.

There are many countries that are not free, and I think Japan was not a free country in the past either. Being with the person you love wasn't allowed, your social class was determined at birth, or you couldn't choose the job you wanted.

So, what about now? Can't we choose the people we want to love and choose the things we want to do?

And yet, it's strange to complain about a crappy boyfriend and lament, 'No one loves me!', or to carelessly take a job you don't even want and shout, 'I'm being pushed around by my boss!'

It can't be helped. Is it really unavoidable? How many options did you lay out before deciding it couldn't be helped? How much trial and error did you go through?

Because it's a free country. That is also something that struck me when war broke out after such a long time. How fortunate it is to have peace as a premise, when there are times you can't even choose to be at peace.

We can choose. At the very least, we aren't being forced to take a job because someone told us to, nor are we being forced into political marriages.

I want you to realize that you are in a position to choose. It is up to you whether you make yourself happy or unhappy.

At the very least, as an adult, you should be the one holding the rudder of your own life.