Running Away from Pain
2 min
I became a proactive truant and became depressed in my first year of high school because of the intimidating, closed environment. While at home, I was thinking all the time about my purpose for everything: attending school, studying, and living. Eventually, I arrived at a straightforward and obvious, single purpose for life.
I live to feel happiness. If something bothers me, I can and should run away from that for life satisfaction.
After I adopted this value, my depression almost lifted, and I felt free. I transferred to a famous online high school in Japan in my second year. It was a great decision. I was able to make great friends and meet great teachers. More than anything else, because I had more free time, I was inspired by a classmate to participate in extracurricular activities such as organizing events and joining presentation competitions, which allowed me to discover a new world I had never known before. Also, it is a high school known for an advanced education system; there was an academic path support division for overseas universities, which is a rare opportunity in Japan. Because there was such support, I could join the online Oxford summer program and learn about the system of foreign universities to grasp and think about them deeply. As a result, I am now in a U.S. community college and aiming to transfer to a four-year university. I wish I had recognized myself and escaped sooner. The world is broad.
It was one chapter of my life, but what did I learn from it? I think it’s quite simple. We have to endure sometimes, but we also have to escape. Without context and background, we can’t decide which option to take. We need to consider if there is an enthusiastic dream beyond the pain. We need to think critically and ask ourselves if we feel so. Unsurprisingly, our lifetime is finite. So, when we really think about how to make the most of our lives, it is highly contradictory and self-destructive to put up with painful situations that do not align with our dreams or goals. If your life is hectic, take advantage of holidays or weekends. Rest your mind, stay away from it, and ask yourself if you feel like you want to get back. Running away from the pain is the opposite of running away from life. It can lead you to the actual life you want. The mindset we should have is not a binary of whether to run away; it’s moving forward toward our objectives to make ourselves happy. Regardless of what others say, your life is yours, and my life is mine.
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