Beau's Blog

Yesterday I arrived back home in Tokyo after a couple weeks in California and Colorado. It was a good trip and after giving it some thought, I have a few takeaways.

• COMMUNITY IS WONDERFUL
• I DID WELL CREATING INTENTIONAL PLANS AND FOLLOWING THROUGH
• JAPAN IS RIGHT FOR ME NOW
• MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT JAPAN

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Thinking about my experience in the US, it was very people oriented. Yes, there were specific tasks to get through that dictated plans, but largely, I found myself asking myself “who?” in some shape or form. I am fortunate to have many important people in my life. COMMUNITY IS WONDERFUL. From Mom and the family on her side I spent time with immediately upon flying into San Francisco to Dad and everyone involved with the annual Hiker’s Hut trip that sort of happened to Boulder friends that I mostly know through a volleyball Meetup (good job Rob again for organizing that years ago) to the high school and college friends from 10+ years ago who I saw, these communities bring joy and meaning to my life.

I’m consciously working on building my community in Japan. I have met some great people so far. I will continue to invest in those relationships and proactively seek more!

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The main ideas for this trip were to celebrate a job transition and enjoy quality time with loved ones along with other smaller goals.

I finished up my job at Vimeo while in the US and as part of that took care of several things more easily done stateside having a job:

1. Dentist Appointment
2. Annual Health Exam
3. Covid Shot
4. Send laptop back to HQ

As I get older, I find investing in family more and more rewarding and clearly aligned with my values. I live far away from most of them and recognize that people don’t get together unless people make it happen. By coming back to the US, I can make it happen.

A year ago, Kristina and I started scheming up a Lord of the Rings trilogy interactive experience. Last summer we did the Fellowship of the Ring and this time we knocked out Two Towers. We added on to what we did the first time with making foods that matched what characters ate (ex: maggoty bread and meat back on the menu) and a drinking game when certain characters said or did things (ex: anyone smoked or The Eye appears). We added a silly addition of putting hats on the TV on the corners such that whenever an onscreen character appeared to be “wearing” a hat, we drank. It turns out that Theoden hangs in the corner of the screen more than you might expect!

Relaxing and enjoying nostalgic pleasures was a big goal of mine too. Whether it was eating burritos in California as often as somewhat reasonable (I ate 5) or playing disc golf in memorable spots or slowing down with a movie, I made sure to have fun. It’s been a relentless year so far and I intend to continue pushing myself. Building in time and space to rest is key.

Back in December I signed up for a trail running race around Tokyo for 3/31… that’s 4 days from now. This means I planned to train while in the US. Fortunately I spent time areas excellent for running. I enjoyed some sweet runs including this run in Boulder’s biggest snowstorm this winter and a run featuring my fastest mile – 5:59 (it was very downhill!)

Fortunately the trip went smoothly overall. I DID WELL CREATING INTENTIONAL PLANS AND FOLLOWING THROUGH. I accomplished every goal I had with the trip!

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I spent a week visiting Boulder and a week visiting a few spots around the Bay Area. These are places I have lived in before. It was really nice visiting them but none of them felt right for me now. I believe Tokyo is where I belong now. Living in Tokyo is hard but rewarding. Of course I miss Boulder’s insanely good trail access and having family nearby in the Bay Area and those California burritos and so much more, but I am not finished with my Japan chapter. I have work to do. I have Japanese language/history/culture to learn, new professional experiences to stumble through, more people from all over to meet, a variety of Japanese adventures to savor, time alone in a foreign place to define and discover myself and more. JAPAN IS RIGHT FOR ME NOW.

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While driving to the San Francisco airport about to fly back to Japan, my friend Willy asked if I was excited to go back to Japan. I responded “no”. I have MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT JAPAN.

I told him that I’d like to think it is because I live in the present. I had a very finite time in the US on this trip. If I spent it excited about going back to Japan, that would take away from the people, places and experiences in the moment. This is true.

Earlier this morning – my first back in Tokyo, I realized another reason. Being alone. Being back in Japan meant being alone. At least far more alone than the non stop family and friends I had scheduled for myself on the trip. This is one facet of living in Japan being hard.

Another reason is that I’m nervous: job, career and income-wise. Leaving a cushy, well paying data analytics tech job, fairly similar to what I’ve been doing the past nine and a half years to instead work at a small Tokyo real estate startup doing marketing, operations and sales with too many unknowns to count – that’s quite the change! Of course there’s excitement and optimism and other good stuff, but nervousness is definitely there.

On the flip side, there are countless positives to living in Japan – I believe I am truly living my dream. I have mixed feelings about Japan and that is okay. I am living the result of decisions past Beau made. I trust him. If things seem too much, I will learn and course correct.

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