💧 A Ritual of Waking
Morning always begins with a glass of water. As I lift the clear glass and cool, clean water runs down my throat, I hear dawn waking inside me. A small courage pressed down through the night gathers like a droplet and raises its head toward another day.
👣 A Time to Overcome Myself
I take out my running clothes and put them on. The first step toward waking the body is always a nuisance and a little frightening. In winter, the wind over the threshold is cold; in summer, the hot sunlight feels burdensome. On rainy days, the smell of wet streets reaches me sharply.
Once I start running, however, my sluggishness slowly disappears during the first 5 minutes. Over the next 10 minutes, my body grows lighter; afterward comes the time when the world and I become one. Wind brushing my ears, leaves rustling and small birds chirping through the dawn air enter me fully and play a warm, beautiful symphony.
🍽️ A Modest Blessing
Returning home soaked in sweat, I shower, and the running water washes away fatigue and worry. A simply prepared glass of milk and a piece of apple feel like a modest blessing marking the day’s beginning.
I put two boiled eggs in my pocket and leave for work. My steps feel light as I open the door and enter the world because a small anticipation of how to spend today already lives in my heart.
🎙️ Recording Inspiration
I choose a YouTube video suited to listening on the commute. Putting in my earphones with a light heart, I let the voices and stories gradually widen my inner horizon. Occasionally, a small idea suddenly appears. It comes faintly, as if whispered only into my ear. To avoid losing that instant, I always take out my phone and press record immediately.
📝 Habits That Make Today’s Self
On arriving at work, the idea immediately becomes part of my personal bucket list. Setting a date for that small goal, making an action plan and checking things off one by one are the little habits and precious routines that compose my life. Someday, every item on this list will be crossed off and replaced with something new. Every morning, I fill today in the spirit of preparing a small gift for tomorrow’s self.
"My day repeats within this small cycle of interest and curiosity,
the courage to act on them,
and the joy of accomplishment."
Some days I achieve a major goal and feel elated, but most days I find happiness in accumulating small things. The days I build gather into my life, and that life flows little by little toward the direction I dream of.
I call this ‘Today Me’: the conviction that today’s small choices create tomorrow’s self. That is why, today again, I drink a glass of water, go outside to run and make a small plan.
What makes each morning special is not a grand dream, but small actions that steadily follow my own rhythm. Believing that these little habits will eventually accumulate into great change, I care for who I am today and who I will be tomorrow.
And so I wait once more for tomorrow morning.
