There are days like that in life.
Days when, until yesterday, your steps sank deep into the mud as if walking through it, and no matter how far you walked, it felt like you were standing in the same spot, but one morning when you open your eyes, it feels as though the very density of the air has changed.
The world is clearly the same, yet it feels as though only the air surrounding you has shifted slightly. Just like that moment when you are tuning an old radio and the static suddenly disappears and clear music hits you.
People sometimes say that luck has changed, and other times they say the time has come.
The expressions may differ, but the feeling is similar.
It is hard to explain, but there is definitely a moment when the flow changes.
If life were an invisible river, there are times when it feels as arduous as swimming against the current, and other times when the boat moves forward without you having to row.
The important thing is that many people fail to recognize this ‘moment when the flow changes.’
They think their luck has changed only when a large sum of money comes in or a tremendous opportunity appears right before their eyes.
However, the signals actually start from very trivial places.
There are days when you look in the mirror and your face looks relaxed for no particular reason.
Should I say that your impression has softened rather than that you have become more handsome?
It feels like an expression that was as hard as stone has become a little softer, like soil. The human face is truly fascinating; when your mindset changes, your impression changes even though your bone structure remains the same.
Someone who always looked sharp suddenly looks round, and someone who looked somewhat exhausted one day looks as cozy as a sun-kissed blanket.
And you inevitably hear something like this: “Has something good happened to you lately? You look better.” In fact, it may not be that your face looks better because something good happened, but rather that the flow of life has started to loosen up enough to make your face look better. It is just like how flowers don't bloom because spring has arrived, but because they are ready to bloom that you can feel the spring. And strangely enough, during that time, you feel the urge to organize. You open drawers, turn closets upside down, wipe dust for no reason, and stare at the contacts saved on your phone for a long time before quietly deleting a few people. Just as stagnant water rots, life requires space for things to flow out before something else can enter; as if instinctively knowing this, you keep emptying things out. Organizing is not simply about getting clean; it is closer to opening up the flow. Just as water drains away in one go once a clogged drain is cleared, the flow of life accelerates as you clear away the blockages.
That is why, before luck comes in, you find yourself discarding things to an almost strange degree.
As you discard objects, habits, relationships, and thoughts, you gradually become lighter.
Perhaps the reason a balloon rises into the sky is not because it is filled with air, but because the weight hanging from the bottom has been removed.
Another interesting thing is people.
When the flow of life changes, it is not an extraordinary person who appears, but a very ordinary person who casually tosses out a decisive remark and walks past.
A single word from someone you met briefly in an elevator, a line of text you happened to see, a phone call from a friend you haven't heard from in a long time. Hints scattered here and there like puzzle pieces walk toward you one by one.
That is why, at certain times, it feels as though I am not going around looking for people, but rather that the words I need are coming to me through the mouths of others.
Just before life starts to go well, I am the protagonist, but the supporting characters begin to change.And strangely enough, I naturally drift away from the people who used to wear me out.
Even without forcing a break, relationships quietly sort themselves out, just as clothes change with the changing seasons.
Sometimes, looking inside the house makes it feel even more certain.
Plants suddenly sprout new shoots, potted plants that seemed on the verge of death come back to life, and the air inside the house changes.
It is the same house, the same potted plants, the same me, yet at certain times everything is dying, and at other times, everything comes back to life.
At such times, I become unsure whether the house is becoming like me, or if I am becoming like the house.
Perhaps humans are like small planets, so when the weather in my heart changes, the ecosystem around me changes along with it.
But above all, the biggest signal appears in the heart.
You come to move on with a "Well, things happen" attitude to things that would have made you angry in the past, and you shake off complications by thinking, "I just got the bad luck out of the way."
This is a state closer to composure than resignation.
When you are swept away by waves, it is hard to even breathe, but once you learn how to float, the same waves become just a swaying motion.
People on the verge of their lives improving have one thing in common.
They do not try to conquer the world.
Instead, they wait for the right timing. Just like a surfer doesn't try to eliminate the waves, but simply waits for them to come. Perhaps luck isn't an event that happens suddenly, but something that only begins to appear when you are in a state where you can ride that wave. That is why some people fail to seize the same opportunity when it comes, while others turn a trivial chance into a turning point in their lives. It's not that luck comes in, but that a boat to carry it is being built. There are days in life when you feel good for no reason. Days when you find yourself humming a tune, wanting to go outside for no reason, wanting to meet people, and wanting to start something new, even though nothing special is happening. Perhaps that is a sign that the light toward the exit is beginning to appear far away in the long tunnel called life. It means that although you haven't completely emerged from the tunnel yet, at least you are on the right track.
So, it is best not to struggle too hard during this time.
Don't try to force yourself to run, but don't stop either; just walk as far as the wind pushes you from behind.
In life, there are doors that open only when you knock, but there are also doors that someone from the inside opens for you.
And strangely enough, those doors open when you are not impatient.
Just as pressing the elevator button multiple times doesn't make it arrive faster, what is meant to come eventually arrives at its own pace.
Perhaps this peculiar shift in the atmosphere you are feeling in your life right now is the stillness just before something begins.
Just as the sea becomes quiet for a moment before a big wave comes, life also has a time to catch its breath before a major change arrives.
At that time, there is only one thing we need to do.
Do not muddy the waters needlessly, do not throw stones needlessly; just quietly launch the boat on the current. Then, at some point, a time will come when you move forward without rowing.
In life, there truly are times like that.
