There are times when we can walk straight ahead with our heads held high, and times when we feel down, lost, or even come to a standstill.
The curves of life are like waves, big and small, each painting a different pattern.
Here, we present a series of interviews where we examine the life curves of various individuals.
From their footsteps, we glimpse diverse ways of living.
We also asked them about their “amulets for the heart” for times of turmoil and distress.
● Maintaining a high life curve is Takao’s style
● The tuna stopped: A blank period during the COVID-19 pandemic
● When drowning, don’t struggle. Let yourself go with the flow.
● Your own pain becomes an experience to understand the feelings of others.
Maintaining a high life curve is Takao’s style
“Hello everyone!” The moment her cheerful voice echoed through the room, the atmosphere instantly brightened. A colorful embroidered shirt with a tie, casual denim, and a soft mohawk hairstyle. The person who appeared with a bright smile was obstetrician-gynecologist Miho Takao.
As the vice director of e-clinic Omotesando, Dr. Takao provides daily medical care while offering tips for healthy living through various approaches. In her audio content “Real Voice from Miho Takao,” she talks about her thoughts on “living each day better” both physically and mentally.
When asked to draw her life curve, she said with a pen in her hand and a smile, “Hmm, what would it be like? No one starts low, so it always starts from a high point.” Even in these words, her unique view of life seems to be apparent.
“My first slump was in the third year of junior high school. There was a time when I was being harassed by my classmates. At that time, the word ‘bullying’ didn’t exist, but later, when I was reading the newspaper, I realized that what I had been subjected to was exactly that.”
In high school entrance exams, not only the actual exam but also internal grades affect the pass/fail decision. The harassment continued because some children felt that having Dr. Takao, who loved studying and had good grades, in the class would put them at a disadvantage in terms of internal grades.
“But I knew we would be separated when we went to high school, and I was able to accept that school wasn’t everything and that this experience was only temporary, so my depression didn’t last long. That’s why the curve goes up quickly.”
“I had two slumps, but both of them went up quickly,” says Dr. Takao.
The tuna stopped: A blank period during the COVID-19 pandemic
Another slump was in August 2018. It was a time of family illness and the COVID-19 pandemic that followed.
Dr. Takao looks back on that time as “the tuna that had been swimming stopped.”
“In April 2020, the clinic was closed, and I suddenly had time to stay home. I had always been on the move, but it suddenly stopped. I didn’t know what to do at home, and it was the first time I had been in such a situation.”
However, she started the audio distribution introduced at the beginning by taking advantage of that time. It was a new initiative born because she did not continue to be depressed by the situation and switched to a “what can I do now?” mindset. This initiative led to new horizons.
When drowning, don’t struggle. Let yourself go with the flow.
Even so, bullying, family illness, and work stoppage due to the COVID-19 pandemic… If this were me, I wouldn’t be able to imagine a bright future and would probably sink into deep despair. Even if it happened many years ago, you might still carry the scars in your heart for a long time.
When asked how she can switch her mindset like Dr. Takao and if there are any tips, it turned out that her ally was “time,” which everyone equally possesses.
“I don’t try to force myself to cheer up, and I largely let myself go with the flow of time. Time will surely heal wounded feelings. So when things are really tough, when you’re in the midst of trouble, don’t struggle and just wait for it to pass. This is the method I’ve used.
For example, if you struggle when you’re drowning, you’ll only drown more.
I once fell out of a boat during a rafting trip in Australia. In the precautions beforehand, I was told to ‘float in a sea otter pose if you fall,’ but when I actually fell, I thought, ‘This is it!’ I closed my eyes tightly in the muddy current so that my contact lenses wouldn’t come out, and desperately struggled to float… It was probably about 2-3 minutes.”
Unable to do anything, Dr. Takao somehow managed to get into the sea otter pose. The moment she opened her eyes, thinking, “Forget about the contact lenses,” an unexpected sight came into view.
“The bubbles in the water in front of me were sparkling. When my eyes were closed, I thought I was caught in a muddy, murky current. The moment I thought, ‘Wow, it’s beautiful,’ the guide of another rafting boat grabbed my helmet and pulled me up, somehow saving my life.
When things are tough, you struggle, and that’s okay. But if things don’t go well, try touching something else to prevent your heart from being hurt any further. And for the time being, just wait for time to pass.“
Your own pain becomes an experience to understand the feelings of others.
“Of course, there are times when I feel down. Especially when my family member got sick, it was so sudden, and I was in a situation where my work schedule was fixed for a year ahead. It was like being in a storm. At weddings and funerals, you spend your time desperately doing the mountain of things you have to do, rather than savoring the feelings of joy or sadness. It was like that.
It was tough, but I also experienced a lot thanks to it. It’s not that I don’t dwell on painful things, but I drag them in a
