After Finishing 'The Cat's Prophecy Under the Tree'

Once again tonight, my heart was warmed by Michiko Aoyama's gentle words. I am writing down my thoughts.

The Middle

A story about a boy who has no place for himself at school and is intimidated by his overbearing classmates. That boy finds his own meaning for 'the middle'.

Those who are in the middle of society or the middle of a community are not necessarily 'people of the middle'.

I realized this last December. Until last November, I served in a management position. I was a 'person of the middle' in my workplace.

But that 'middle' was not the 'middle' of my life. At some point, it seems I had become dependent on the title of manager.

At 29, when I became a manager, I took pride in the position of managing pharmacist. I was full of myself, thinking that because I was in a position of management, the decision-making power for operations rested with me.

But it wasn't in management that I could truly work as myself. I feel that because I was single and had no one to rely on, I just leaned on the title of 'manager' when it was attached to me.

If I wasn't in the middle, I couldn't find the value of my own existence.

That reached its limit in seven years, and there was no one left around me who would accept me. I had gone off on my own too much. I was no longer able to function as a team.

Rather than loneliness, I felt pathetic and ashamed that I had to make the decision myself to leave the place I loved, so I transferred.

Now, I am not a manager, but working as a regular full-time employee. I am not in the middle of the workplace.

However, my strengths in communicating with other professions and my agility have paid off, and I have been allowed to take charge of home medical care duties.

I think this field of home medical care might be my own 'middle'. The work of home medical care is very, very exciting, and sometimes it even brings me to tears. That is how I am allowed to work while having my heart moved every day.

I think it is okay for everyone else's 'middle' and your own 'middle' to be different.

If you can find the place that makes you excited... your 'middle', your every day will shine.

With gratitude for the wonderful story that made me feel cheerful again today.