#218 Life, what do you want to be blessed with?

If you could be blessed with one thing in this once-in-a-lifetime life, what would you choose?

Money.
I think that is something many people want to be blessed with. Of course, I am one of them.

Talent.
As I write every day, I strongly wish to be blessed with the talent to write.

Unfortunately, you surely cannot have everything.
But if I had to choose just one,I would choose "people" without hesitation.

Money is not something you are blessed with

When I was in my 20s,I was over a million yen in debt.
I had found a job in a rural area but quit due to adjustment disorder. I borrowed money from my parents to fly back to my hometown.
Through this experience, I keenly felt the reality of how much money it takes to live.

It costs money to move.
It costs money to eat.
It costs money to sleep in a warm bed.
Money, money, money, money—.

At that time, I strongly wanted to be blessed with money more than anything.
At the same time, while spending days that felt like a song of poverty, thinking, "No matter how much I work, my debt doesn't decrease,"I also began to resent money.

Money was making me suffer.
It was all money's fault that I was living such a painful life.
I was trulyshifting the responsibility onto myself for not having the ability to earn.

However, perhaps money is not something you are blessed with.
Because "to be blessed with" means "to be given something by good fortune."to be given something by good fortune

Thinking back now, I feel that the more I thought, "I want to be blessed with money," the more money ran away from me.
Without making any effort,insisting only on "I want it!"and finally,"I hate money,"as a person who unilaterally resents it,what kind of money would ever come near me?

There might be some people who are blessed with money.
But I still think that money is not something you are originally blessed with,but something you receive in exchange for your own effort and hardship.
Since I started thinking that way, my pockets have become just a little bit richer.

The warmth of people felt in an emergency

On the other hand, I think encounters depend largely on luck.
Therefore,people might be something you are blessed with.

The other day, my mother was suddenly taken away by an ambulance.
She had an unusual heart palpitation and her blood pressure was rising toward 200 all at once.
Because of that, she couldn't even stand up.
I was out with friends at the time, and I learned about the situation from a voicemail left by my panicked father.

She was fine in the morning, so why?
I have a habit of thinking the worst, so I even imagined the worst-case scenario.
Not knowing the details, I gradually lost my composure.
I told my friends, who noticed that I had changed, exactly what was happening.

"For now, let's wait for a call from your father."
"We'll stay with you until we know what's going on."
"It will surely be okay."

I was truly happy for those words and my friends' expressions.
Of course, they might have had no choice but to say that, but even so,I could feel from their voices that they were genuinely worried about me and my mother.

If I had been alone at that time, my heart would have been even more distressed.
When they accepted my anxiety and stood by me, I thought, in a cliché way, "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
I was so, so grateful to be blessed with friends and people.

Being blessed with people is my happiness

I truly feel that I am blessed with people in my life.
When I suffered from adjustment disorder.
When I was forced to resign from my job.
When I hit rock bottom in my life.
No matter what, my parents and friends were by my side.

And every time that happened, I savored the happiness of being blessed with people.

Due to the aforementioned emergencies, for the first time, I was unable to even open Note, let alone update it, for about five days.
When I opened Note after a long time, I saw likes and comments on my articles, and once again, I felt saved by the warmth of people here as well.

That is why, if I were asked what I would want to be blessed with, I would choose "people" without hesitation.
I want my one and only life to be one where I am blessed with people and grateful to them.