About These Posts

Each day I add a new journal entry to my social media feeds. Here, I take that day’s entry and expand it through the lens of my Good Life Creed, which you can read about in my book Going Alone (available for free on this website). These dissections aim to connect ordinary reflections with the enduring objectives and principles of the Creed.

Journal Entry (11/03/25)

It’s my first day of work today, and I’m surprisingly nervous. It’s just an hour—two short, 25-minute adult lessons that should go quickly and easily. Yet my old working self has reappeared, suddenly back in charge, insisting I check the schedule again, plan the lessons carefully, and fret over every small detail. That guy—my working self—has been absent for the past eleven months, and I’d nearly forgotten what a pain in the neck he can be, always anxious to get everything just right.

No wonder I once wanted him gone. He makes even two short conversation lessons feel like a major production. Still, I’m grateful he cares so much. Maybe, in time, he’ll learn to relax. This job, after all, isn’t meant to be hard.

Dissection

This reflection marks the quiet return of the working self—the diligent, detail-minded persona forged through decades of labor. After months of retirement, its reemergence feels both familiar and slightly unwelcome, yet there’s tenderness in the recognition. You see that the drive to prepare, to perform, and to care deeply about results is not something to be scolded away but integrated anew, with gentleness and humor.

#Time (Objective: Make Good and Effective Use of Time and Resources)

The structure of scheduled work reintroduces rhythm and accountability, reminding us that measured commitment gives the day its shape. Even brief labor, done mindfully, is time well used.

#Reason (Principle of Reason)

Self-awareness moderates nervousness. By noticing your anxiety rather than yielding to it, you allow reason to steady emotion. This is a reunion between intellect and feeling, with reason now guiding calmly from the middle seat.

#Arena (Principle of Arena and Utility)

To return to work is to step again into the arena—not to battle or conquer, but to practice. The workplace becomes a training ground for composure, humility, and a renewed sense of purpose in life’s ongoing exercise.

Takeaway

The habits of diligence, precision, and care never truly fade; they simply wait for new purpose. Returning to work after retirement is not regression but renewal—a chance to engage once more with life’s discipline, tempered now by age and reason.

#RetiringInJapan 🇯🇵 #GoingAlone 🌵 #Time #Reason #Arena