[One Thousand Characters a Day] Person, Your Flower Language Is Loneliness <3>

Editor's NoteFeeling like you can become anything, wanting to become something, yet not knowing what to do?this is the reality and biggest concern facing today's youth. Author Dong-Young Lee advises them, "Opportunities will come again, so be prepared to handle them anew until then." Rather than blaming the environment, it is more important to control temptations on your own and gradually raise your level to grow. The more time you endure the tunnel of pain with your whole body, the more you grow, precisely because you have endured that pain and hardship. Word count: 1187.

We are anxious because we are impatient, anxious because we compare ourselves to others, anxious because we feel lost, and anxious because our desires grow too large. If we calmly focus on ourselves, do our best in the present, and regulate the degree of our desires, anxiety can be somewhat calmed and resolved. The source of the anxiety that torments me may be the future, but it can also be the past. Usually, we live a life that denies the present or is mortgaged by a distant future. When we are stuck and obsessed with the past, our minds easily create anxiety on their own. Then, there inevitably comes a time when we belittle our own situation compared to those around us. If we only feel vague anxiety during the time when we should be quietly preparing? Even though we know it prevents us from doing anything, it is not easy to shake off. It is like how during exam periods, one gets caught up more in worrying about the results than studying.

Anxiety should be used as the driving force for preparation. Just as much as you believe that opportunities will come again. For those who are prepared, the opportunity that comes again will not be a fleeting, ordinary thing but a golden chance. When unprepared, it is easy to blame the world. When looking at others or those who seem successful, one thinks: Because of unequal opportunities from the start, they are different now and will be different forever. One ends up blaming God, resenting those around them, feeling jealousy and envy, and causing conflicts. Preparation is a boring time that does not earn immediate recognition.

Instead of blaming external factors and tormenting your mind with anxiety, it is better to relieve your emotions, empty them if possible, and in their place ask yourself, "What should I prepare for?", "How should I prepare?", "Where, with whom, and why should I prepare?", and "When is the right time and how can I naturally incorporate it into my daily life?" Then immediately take action to gain experience. These are questions that establish an attitude of life preparing to help the world and those around you as much as you want to love and protect yourself.

If you prepare to the best of your ability, when an opportunity comes, your eyes will open to seize it. The opportunity that comes is clearly visible to those who know that nothing in this world is free. For those who put in half-hearted effort, it will come as a reason for regret, but when you have poured everything you can, it will come as a chance to build your career. Even if preparation was not a strategy for a specific opportunity, you will realize it is the reward for everything you have experienced so far. By doing it steadily, you will say, "This kind of opportunity eventually becomes mine!"

- Dong-Young Lee, People, Your Flower Language is Loneliness, illustrated by Seul-A Lee, Daban, 16,800 KRW