How Meguru “Decided” — And Why It Changed Everything

Your thoughts come first.
Reality comes later.

I’ve written about this many times already.

When I say “thoughts come first,” I’m really talking about your “intentions” and “decisions.”

For me, when it comes to love, there was a long stretch of uncertainty around my “intentions” and “decisions.” But looking back at my career in work, it’s been a totally different story…

I’ve made bold decision after bold decision, and things have consistently worked out beautifully.

When life gets tough, just rest and let the rewards come.

I work in publishing and editing, so let me give you some examples:

Even when I first went freelance and lost all my regular work, here’s what I did:

I basically just slept lolww

I genuinely thought, “Let me just get really good sleep for a month, and something will happen in the meantime.”

Seriously, I was sleeping constantly, and even when I wasn’t sleeping, I was happily watching Korean dramas. Then one day, my phone rang, and it turned out to be an absolutely miraculous opportunity that led me to where I am today.

Of course, you can apply this same principle to love, so if you’re interested, pull out what resonates with you!

By the way, I made my decision to work in publishing back when I was in the eighth grade lol

I decided I would become someone who makes books.

I chose publishing because my teacher at the time complimented me on my writing.

That’s literally it lol.

When I was young, everything felt complicated. Since kindergarten, I was slow at doing everything—like changing clothes. While all the other kids were in their uniforms, I was the one still getting dressed (laughs).

My mom was worried and signed me up for all sorts of lessons, but on the last day of English class, the teacher asked me to write “ball,” and when I wrote “boll,” she gently corrected me to “a.” There were so many little moments like that lol

So when my essay suddenly got praise, it was huge! !

That’s when I made my decision so clearly that I still remember it to this day.

「I’m going to make booksーーーーーーーーーーー」

And then what did I do after making that decision?

I pretty much forgot about it and just lived my life normally.

To become someone who makes books, I didn’t read books (I actually hate reading), I didn’t write essays (I despise book reviews so much I couldn’t write them), and honestly, I spent my time doing other things.

But here’s the thing:

I had made the decision that I would “become a book maker.”

It was a “core belief” on the same level as “I am human.”
　

I never once connected my dislike of reading, my inability to write book reviews, or my constant arguments with my sister to “that’s why I can’t make books.”
I didn’t feel rushed or stressed, and I didn’t make any extra effort (well, that’s just the truth)

As I write this, I realize I sound kind of ridiculous lol, but I can’t help it. Because it’s true lol

These companies just didn’t know what they were missing.

　So, I started job hunting.

During my job search, I got rejected a lot.
I took many entrance exams, mostly for print advertising jobs, and as usual, I failed many times.

Who knows how many companies I applied to. I’d guess dozens.

In the school cafeteria, you could see job-hunting students getting more and more discouraged every day.

You could hear people all around saying, “I didn’t get it again…”

That’s when something shocked me.
Why?

That these companies just didn’t know what they were missing out on with me.

That’s genuinely what I felt in my heart! ! !

Okay, I know that sounds pretty audacious.

And to be honest, I had no job experience, so there was zero basis for that belief.
Like, what did I even mean by “companies that don’t see things” lol

But. Yes. That’s exactly right.

This “complete lack of evidence” is actually what matters most.

The evidence that “I can do this job” shows up later anyway.

Anyway, that’s how my job search ended, and I somehow ended up joining an advertising agency (!!), and from there, everything just kept unfolding in amazing ways.

For example, after I quit one company and was looking for something new, I wandered into a bar, and the person sitting next to me happened to be the deputy editor-in-chief of a major magazine. We started talking, hit it off immediately, and next thing I knew…

「Your energy is perfect for our magazine, so you’re hired.」

I was told I could start working the very next day.

When I try to put stories like this into words, I often think, “There’s no way that actually happened!!!“

I looked back at what I was doing during all these miraculous moments, and it all traced back to that decision I made in eighth grade:

I will make books.

I just kept holding onto that.

Make a bold decision and live your life—things will work out! !

When you feel like love isn’t going the way you want,

It feels like you end up trying to control every tiny detail right at the end.

To be blunt, that’s a form of your need to be in control.

Many experts have pointed this out, but when you try to control things, you only get what you’re trying to control.

You don’t realize how limiting that is until you let go and allow something bigger to work through you.

With my career, I only had one fixed idea: “making books.” Maybe because I was so casual about everything else, miraculous and delightful things keep happening from every direction ^^

Letting go of control might feel difficult, but if you just make one bold decision, you can do it.

I’m so deeply in love with him and having the time of my life every single day.

Then you can make that decision.

I think once you’ve decided, you should just let the rest unfold naturally and go about your daily life without obsessing over small things like getting a phone call, confessing your feelings, or starting a relationship.

After I decided to make books, it took more than seven years before I actually got to do it. (These days you can become a YouTuber, but back then, I believed you couldn’t work in publishing until you were old enough.)
In the meantime,

I kept deciding things like:
“I’m going to make a book” (eighth grade me)
“I’m going to make a book” (freshman in high school)
“I’m going to make a book” (freshman in college)
If I’d kept re-deciding like that over and over, I wouldn’t have survived lol, and along the way,

“You’ve never even read a book, so why are you trying to make one?”
“You know book reviews are all just ‘interesting’ and ‘fun.’ It’s naive to want to make a book just because someone once said you write well.”
“You think you can make a book just because you got one compliment about your writing?”

I probably would have talked myself out of it with all those doubts.

So once you decide, just leave it alone ♡

I’m not sure if my story will be helpful for you, but I’m sure there’s at least some insight you can take from it (like little tips for living a better life lol)!

This reminds me of “The Miraculous Power to Open the Doors of Your Life, as Taught by a Stanford Neurosurgeon” (by James Dougherty).

It’s the true story of Dr. Dougherty, who was born into poverty but whose life transformed when he met a woman named Ruth, and he went on to become a neurosurgeon. If you’re interested in mindfulness, definitely check it out!