- Overview
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This book is a collection of essays that plainly portrays the author’s struggling 20s, when she took a solid look at herself for the first time after letting go of her stubbornness and obsession and began to grow more relaxed in her daily life.
- Book Intro
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This is the only life I’ll get. I’m lucky to have been born as me.
Even before entering school, my family was shattered. I was forced to become independent, mentally and physically, at all costs. Studying in the United States, something I risked everything to prepare for, was also a series of hardships. The ultimate goal was to obtain a U.S. work visa and permanent residency, but all my efforts were in vain as something unexpected happened every time I tried to apply. Even small sums of money I had saved had to be given away for other people’s businesses. I was the sole breadwinner of my family, and I couldn’t escape from being trapped in a situation where my family demanded money from me day after day.
Because of this, my best efforts always fell short. I just wanted to quietly get my life in order. This was not a determination that came about out of anger, but a small wish to just rest quietly for the rest of my life. Just as I had let go of everything and was just letting my life pass me by, and an unexpected life walked in. I realized that organizing my life and my inner self was the only way to start again. After letting go of my stubbornness and obsession, I finally took a good, solid look at myself. I learned that my excessive greed and the wild thoughts I had about living in comfort throughout my life had been constricting my everyday life.
Since then, I’ve been living as if I got a bonus life. Living as if you’ve gotten a bonus life is quite fun. The thrill of increasing the density of life is like a treasure that money can’t buy. “I want to be born and live as me, again and again.” I’m lucky to have been born as me. I’m thankful to have been born as me.”
- About the Author
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Yoo Myeonghyun
Yoo Myeonghyun is an English education expert, host of international events inside and outside of Korea, a simultaneous interpreter, and a columnist for Women’s Window in the Korea Times in the USA. She is also the head of the international exchange team for the Korean Association at Silicon Valley, and host of San Francisco’s sister city event. She was selected as the “noteworthy Korean of the month” (April 2018) in the monthly magazine SFKOREAN. She earned a master’s degree in education in the graduate program of the State University of New York and worked as an academic coordinator in Long Island Conservatory ESL & Learning Center before becoming an assistant teacher in Norwood Norfolk Central School, a public school in the state of New York. Yoo also served as a school age class teacher at a school for the children of the faculty at the State University of New York.
She is the author of English Patterns Useful in English Worship and Overseas Missions and Mommy's English Makes You Speak English.
- Selection
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Korean Culture and Arts Committee, 2020, Literature Sharing
