#Yu So-young 27-year veteran
Hello. I'm Yu So-young, a 27-year veteran.
I live by the idea of matching my life to my own pace rather than a structure set by someone else.
Rather than doing fixed things at fixed timesI've built my own years of experience by finding what I truly want to do.
Since I was 18, I attended advertising camps and dreamed of becoming an AE at an advertising agency.
I spent my days busier than anyone else to achieve that dream.
I'm not perfect, but I believe my bright, healthy energy is my charm.
#I was losing myself under the label 'job seeker'
However, it's not easy to always live with this mindset at the center.
March 2015, after working as a tour guide in Barcelona and returning to Korea.
At the hospital I visited because my health and throat condition had been consistently poor, I was diagnosed with vocal cord nodules and a voice disorder.
I, who always liked talking with friends and in front of many people and had a confident personality,After two surgeries and months of treatment, I began to hesitate to meet people and lost my confidence.
In that condition, last September I became what people commonly call a 'job seeker.'
The expectations others had of me, who faced anything with confidence, were higher than I thought, and having lost my confidence, those expectations only felt burdensome.
Thus, under the label of a job seeker, I was losing myself.
I called 2015 my unlucky year and blamed many things around me.
I desperately needed time to get away from what was closing in on me and to refresh.
Opening my eyes to a new world
Desperate to escape somewhere other than here, Idiscovered that Acuvue Korea was recruiting college students to go on a trip under the concept 'Opening my eyes to a new world.'
I wrote honestly about my situation and feelings and was selected in the top 3, receiving 2,000,000 won as travel expenses.
Since the grant was not small, at first I thought of the U.S. or Europe.
But I remembered that what I needed at the time was relaxation and rest rather than a busy trip of seeing many places.
For that reason I traveled to warm Southeast Asia, specifically Bali, with its great waves, sunsets, and the friendliest people.Imagining myself riding the waves under a beautiful sunset.
At that time...What worried and made me anxious the most was myself at that time.
I thought anywhere would be fine as long as it wasn't here, so I had no anxiety about leaving.
A week after being selected in the top 3, I left for Bali.
Bali — everything was relaxed and warm
When I arrived in Bali I was sensitive, very tense, and wary of the people there.
At first I really wanted to do nothing and meet no one. Everything felt tedious.
But the people there were so kind. No, it's more fitting to call them warm.
They always wore gentle expressions and moved with a relaxed ease.
There were always many people and motorbikes on the streets, but I never felt it was chaotic.
They would sit in front of their own shops, exchange greetings with people around them, and when I approached they would offer a friendly greeting.They didn't have many tasks to do or things they had to accomplish.
Since it is known as a honeymoon destination and it was the low season,I thought I would be completely alone, and I went to Bali with concerns about whether I might be bored.
But strangely, I never had a moment to myself.
Everyone I met there welcomed me warmly and became my friends.
Jimmy, the surf instructor, and Helga, the cafe staff.
They treated me as a friend rather than a guest, so I was able to accept them as friends too.
In that way, Bali's distinctive warmth melted my guarded hesitation.
I went for walks by the sea, ate, lay on a sunbed writing the backlog of my diary, took a nap when drowsy, and when I woke up I watched the most magnificent sunset in the world.걸음은 느려지고 In days when I didn't have to fill every moment with something.For the first time in a very long time, I was able to talk with myself.
Freedom Brought by the Airline's Mistake
The first thing I experienced after arriving in Bali.My luggage didn't arrive in Bali due to an airline mistake.
I only had a little cash. The airline reimbursed me only 300,000 rupiah (about 25,000 KRW).
With that money I barely made it into town, and I spent an uncomfortable first night without being able to properly wash or change clothes.
I had come to Bali to escape the place I was in, and experiencing this as soon as I arrived made me feel rejected even by Bali.
But the next day, still in my sweat-soaked clothes, I went outside and the sunshine was so nice—and, in fact, going out (traveling) without worrying about my appearance gave me a strange feeling of liberation.
Having nothing meant I didn't have to worry about anything, which brought me freedom, and because of that I could begin my Bali trip feeling completely free.
The phrase I heard most in Bali, when I had always been pressured to be better: "Great! Good job!"
I learned how to surf for the first time in Bali. At first, I thought it was a sport where you had to battle and beat the waves.
I couldn't even get up, kept ending up on my knees, and wiped out several times.
It wasn't about fighting and defeating the waves.I realized it was about moving forward with the waves.
To do that, I had to find balance in my legs—and in my mind.
I learned balance from the waves.
Do you know the phrase I heard most while surfing, doing yoga, and diving in Bali?
Great! Good job!
You're a very good surfer...
Don't mind others.
It's okay. Take your time. You're doing well.
Did they say that because I did really well?
I think they wanted to motivate me and give me confidence.
It was different from my life, where I was always pressured to do better and be number one.
They were awkward but felt nice.
#After taking a gap year..
In fact, my situation hasn't changed at all.
I'm still fighting a disorder and receiving treatment, and I have to endure another job search.
However, in Bali, for the first time in a long while, I did nothing but think and put those thoughts into writing...
I was able to ask myself what I was feeling and thinking, listen, and reflect.
Last year, I think I was very conscious of many things, especially other people's opinions.
I limited myself by saying I wasn't the same as before, made myself small, and punished myself for being different from others and not being better than them.
And failing to get a job hurt my pride and upset me so much.
Because of other people's opinions.
I labeled myself merely as a job seeker, thereby limiting myself.
It was only after listening to myself in Bali that I realized.
It wasn't that I wanted to get a job; I just wanted to keep doing what I love...
I didn't want to join a big company and be a high-earning employee...
It was something I didn't know until I listened to myself.
Over ten days I had many conversations with myself rather than with anyone else,
I learned to be considerate toward myself, not others.
An important fact I had forgotten, thanks to Bali.
I'm not 'job-seeker Yoo Soyoung'; I'm just Yoo Soyoung, 27 years old.
#Tips for those taking a gap year
My gap year might look like a simple 'trip' if you take everything out of the equation.
I think a gap year doesn't have to mean doing some great or extraordinary thing.
As long as it becomes a process of finding something I need, doesn't the form matter?
Everyone needs a short break, and for me, travel fulfilled that role.
And I believe true rest is only possible when not only the body but also the mind is given a break.
We're too busy.
We have too many things to do.
Please look at yourself—the person you couldn't look into because you were so busy and had so much to do.
Ask and listen. Listen to your own heart, not others' opinions.
Only nowWhat I needed was not the free time to do nothing,
I realized I needed the emotional space to listen to myself.
#A message to the youth of our country
I hope we don't waste this precious 'present' given to us.
The present right now was once a future.
The present is as precious as the future.
Not something to be ashamed of,
Let's live a life we don't have to apologize for.
Thank you, Bali!
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