the first week of this series is now coming to a close, and thanks for tuning in. i think i deserve to to give myself a little pat on the back for being able to last this long because i'm the type of person who can fall off of the train pretty quickly. is that a good thing? hmm, depends on what it is. is it a bad thing? also, depends on what it is.

but that's the point of doing things: you take some sort of risk with your time, money, effort, strategy, whatever, in exchange for learning to something new, or better.

but it seems more and more people nowadays don't fret with taking a chance on themselves. it might be because of social media's fear mongering tactics, politics, and even family, friends, or acquaintances persuading or discouraging you to take a "safer" (whatever tf that is these days), route. but how do you actually know anything if you don't take action yourself?

take me writing a book. it took me five years to really sit down, pipe up the courage, and finally write a draft in it's entirety. it takes an immense amount of time and energy to plot, prep, develop, write, and edit a 100k+ manuscript of words to make sure it all makes sense. i've grown greatly as a writer, for one. and seeing the mistakes i've made and what i can do better next time is a huge benefit on my part. but of course, scrutiny of other's opinions and takes, the gatekeeping of the publishing world, and the unglamourous moments where things like imposter syndrome and the urge to give up set in, all come with it too.

traveling is another huge part of my life. it's another significant factor that's contributed to my growth and perspective of how other's live and function in this world. yet, i sometimes can't help but feel i'm walking on eggshells in this lifestyle. not having a "set" home to go to after long periods of travel, not understanding a culture or a country's language in full, and figuring out how to get around at first are the not so pretty things not everyone seems to talk about. sometimes i get the feeling people look at me differently when i say i don't now yet for certain what's going to come after, but again that's up for me to decide. my hope is that people will take inspiration and learn to embark on their own journey's too.

building a business is something i aspire to do when i get back home to japan and the states. i'm planting the seeds now in creativity and designing // mapping out my goals, but still, who knows where it's going to lead? it could fail, it could not, but that's the chance i'm willing to take to bring something i believe is valuable.

finally, planning a wedding. sure, i can plan and figure it out as much as i can, but god knows nothing ever goes to plan on the actual day. it's been a joy figuring out the fun things with my fiance, and i'm grateful to have a great support group back at home who's helping us. but on the flipside of this, (forgive me) but people (yes, family is within the people) need to learn to FUCKING MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS about the how's, what's and why's of the overall logistics of it all because i'm barely learning what to do. there's a difference between genuine curiosity versus blatant invasion of privacy, and that's all i'll say on that.

anyways, my point is taking risks is needed to constantly learn. it's necessary because it often leads you down to something better than you would've initially thought of. self-confidence is the result of all of this risk taking, and there's nothing better than learning about yourself, your needs, and how you can build off of that.