#いい働き方って、なんだろう　(英語版)

What Is a Good Way of Working?

I have worked for a long time.
And one day, I stopped and wondered:
What does it really mean to work?

According to AI, work is not only about earning money.
It includes contributing to society, growing through experience, and finding purpose and fulfillment.
The Japanese word hataraku is said to come from hata o raku ni suru —
to make things easier for others.

That made sense to me.

I worked as a high school English teacher for thirty-three years.
To make a living.
To use what I had studied.
To learn from teaching itself — from colleagues, students, and parents.
To understand society, including its unfairness.

After retirement, I opened a small acupuncture and English conversation salon at home.
It was not for financial survival.
It was not an easy or profitable choice.
It was simply the work I felt called to do.

I had once suffered from facial paralysis during my first pregnancy.
Western medicine told me it was too late.
Acupuncture helped me recover — not completely, but enough to live again.

Years later, at forty-nine, I studied acupuncture while continuing to teach,
seeking answers to my own illness.
Along the way, I found a new purpose:
to support others, gently, in my own way.

A “good way of working” changes with age and circumstance.
For the young, financial independence matters.
Later in life, meaning may matter more.

Did I have a good way of working?
I don’t know.

But I live now without regret.
And that, for me, is enough.

#GoodWork
#MeaningOfWork
#SecondCareer
#LifeAfterRetirement
#WomenAndWork
#LifelongLearning
#CareerJourney
#FindingPurpose