明日おやすみ！
Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine said that to me in Japanese. He is 6 years old and a 1st grade elementary school student in Japan. He just finished school and ran to me with excitement.
明日おやすみ!
I already know that “Ashita” (明日) means tomorrow and “Oyasumi” (おやすみ) means good night. But I was so confused. Why would he say “Tomorrow good night”? It doesn’t make any sense. Later I asked his father what his son was actually trying to say. He told me that “Oyasumi” (おやすみ) also means rest or day off. So, “明日おやすみ!” is not “Tomorrow good night!” but it means “Tomorrow I have a day off!” The boy is happy because tomorrow school is closed due to a typhoon.
When a typhoon is coming, some schools in Japan are temporarily closed for safety. I checked on Google and it said that there is a typhoon moving up in the pacific coast of Japan—which is called Typhoon Jangmi (Typhoon No. 6), bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the Kanto region.
As I wait for the rain and the wind to stop, suddenly my head filled with enlightenment. I don’t know if “enlightenment” is the right word to say, but it feels like God has given me an answer for the confusion I felt lately. Sometimes, life might feel so clear. You know what to do and you are optimistic about the future. But sometimes also, life might feel so confusing. The direction is unclear, the view is clouded and hard to see, and you feel afraid and pessimistic about the future. But actually, instead of thinking about what the future would look like, think about what you can do in the present. By focusing your energy on the present, you are preventing yourself from overthinking the uncertainty of life. Because life will always be uncertain. Just like how the boy is happy about the coming typhoon, there is always a good reason in every storm.