Light Seeker | 找到你的光

Recently, I read a paper titled A Psychologically Rich Life: Beyond Happiness and Meaning. It helped me reflect on how major life events—and time itself—have reshaped how I understand what a “good life” really is.

Growing up, I was taught that progress meant climbing upward: study hard, get a stable job, move up the ladder, and be better than before. After graduating from college, I worked full-time for three years and lived inside that belief. I was constantly competing, comparing myself to others, and feeling that I was never good enough.

Eventually, I reached a breaking point. I left my full-time job to create space to ask deeper questions: Who am I? What do I truly enjoy? What kind of life do I want to live? During that time, I took on part-time work and began coaching junior high school basketball. To my surprise, although training was physically demanding, I felt joy and patience. For the first time, effort felt meaningful rather than draining.

That experience taught me something essential: the most powerful influence in life is one life touching another. Coaching wasn’t about money or status—it was about presence, connection, and growth.

Six years later, after starting a fitness studio with my partner and facing many challenges—financial stress, relationship struggles, family pressure—I can say this: life didn’t fall apart when I stepped off the traditional path. Instead, it became richer.

Happiness and meaning matter. But psychological richness—the willingness to live with curiosity, complexity, uncertainty, and change—has expanded my inner world. Through difficulty, my perspective deepened, and my life became more fully lived.

And that, to me, is what time and life events have ultimately taught me.