대니얼의 영어 편지는 KoreanEnglish.org를 통해 매주 금요일에 발송됩니다. 쉬운 영어로 시작해 자연스럽게 우리말로 연결되기 때문에 영어를 배우는 분이라면 누구나 부담없이 흥미롭게 읽으실 수 있습니다.

Hey, Life Explorers!

What is up? Is everything going well with you?

For me, not really. You may want to ask me, “How come?” “How come you’re not doing so well? You’ve talked about things that seem to matter to us. Doesn’t it mean you’ve figure out problems yourself and you’ve been doing as well?”

By someone’s standards, I’m probably living my life pretty well. I have enough of most things in life. I have a beautiful wife and three lovely daughters. I have a house to live in with my family. I have good friends that I can share anything going on with. I have my parents who stand up for me no matter what I do. Also, I have work to do.

Then, why do I sometimes feel a little down or feel lack of something? Shouldn’t I be fully satisfied with what I have at the moment?

My desire for more comes about when I try to find myself and achieve my goals in life. Maintaining great relationships is one of the most important facets of life to pursue without a doubt, but for me, it cannot stand alone.

I want to achieve my goals while maintaining great relationships. I know it’s much harder than just trying to get one or the other. But I also know that it’s a lot more worth my life than just opting for one.

I don’t want to die rich without people that I love and that love me. I don’t want to die poor even if I have loved ones around me.

So, here’s the bottom line. If you want to get two things in the world where even it’s hard to get one, you would have to work harder and struggle more along the way. We tend to get more things without adding more of our time and energy, but it doesn’t happen the way we want and expect. When we put in more, we can have more chances to get two or more simultaneously.

You may call it, “greed”. Then, you’re right. I’m greedy for great relationships and great outcomes in my life. Why aren’t I?

Every now and then, I feel down and feel stuck. But I still want more, so I wake myself up again and put my foot down. Just because you’re struggling now doesn’t necessarily mean you’re living your life in the wrong way.

We can evaluate and judge our lives whenever we want. However, there will be one moment no one can avoid judging their own life. That is right before we die.

We might not be able to say any word, because we’re sick in bed. With no sound out of our mouth, we will get to trace back and judge it to ourselves. “It was worth my life . . .” or “I wish I would have . . .”

사업가이자 유투버, 연설가인 홍콩계 캐나다인 Dan Lok이 이런 말을 한 적이 있습니다.

“나는 영화 한 편이 2,000달러라고 생각한다. 왜냐하면 영화를 보는 2시간이면 2,000달러를 더 벌 수 있기 때문이다. 그래서 나는 영화를 볼 때 2,000달러의 가치를 두고 소중하고 재미있게 본다.”

누구에게는 만원짜리 영화 한 편이 누구에게는 2,000달러의 가치를 가진다는 것, 흥미롭지 않나요? 자신의 시간을 값지게 만드는 것은 바로 자신입니다.

종이를 꺼내 지난 1월 한 달간 내가 무엇을 했는지 적어보세요. 그리고 아직도 시작인 2019년에 내가 꼭 이루고 싶은 일과 그 이유를 적어보세요. 다시 한번 새롭게 화이팅!