Happy Writing Marathon #37 | What choice recently made you feel your heart become 'lighter'?

I am participating in the 'Happy Writing Marathon' by
Ken Honda, who always provides topics that stir the heart.

This week's theme is 'The direction the heart rejoices in'. The topic is a choice that made you feel your
heart become lighter.

That was when I let go of the 'full-time employee' way of working and shifted to 'part-time work x side job'.

The liberation that arrived the moment I gave myself permission

The moment I felt my 'heart become lighter' was not the day I quit my full-time job. That sense of liberation arrived a little earlier, on a quiet night.

'It's okay to quit now'

The moment I gave myself that permission. Nothing changed dramatically, and I didn't see a map of the future.
Yet, strangely enough, my breathing became deeper and smoother.

Perhaps until then, I had been living as if holding my breath underwater.

The days working as a full-time employee were by no means a mistake. However, before I knew it, I was trying to fit into the shape of 'how things should be,' and I had folded my own rhythm smaller and smaller.

The sign my body gave me that 'this is no longer right'

'It shouldn't be wrong, yet it's painful somewhere.' I wonder if there are quite a lot of people who carry that feeling.

In my case, it was my daughter's 'first-grade problem' and my own recurring poor health. Amidst the events happening one after another, I feel like my body was the first to tell me, 'This is no longer the direction for you.'

On the night I made the decision, the scenery outside had the same stillness as always. Yet, the air around me felt just a little softer.

The feeling of an invisible weight deep in my chest gently unraveling. Even though the anxiety about the future hadn't disappeared, for some reason, I was wrapped in a deep sense of peace.

The day the definition of stability changed

Since changing to a part-time way of working, overtime has disappeared, and the night has returned as 'time for myself'.

Because space was created in my heart, new small challenges have begun.

Spinning my thoughts into words, adjusting my breathing with yoga, connecting with the world through online English conversation.

Each one is a small thing, but they evoke the feeling of 'this is what I wanted to do'.

I used to think that 'stability' meant staying in the same place. But now, it is different.

True stability is being in a place that is in sync with your own breathing.

When I took a deep breath, even though the colors of the world didn't change, the sky within me certainly expanded.

I believe that choice that night was not a decision to lose something, but rather
an important starting point where I steered slightly in the direction that makes my heart happy.

Since letting go of my full-time job, everything has started to turn around in a surprising way. I feel that living at my own rhythm is neither selfish nor an escape, but the most certain path to making myself and those around me happy.

Today, too,
I will walk toward 'the direction that makes my heart happy'✨😊

Ken Honda-san,
thank you once again for this
exciting prompt that makes my heart flutter🌈

#KenHonda
#HappyWritingMarathon