Day 154 of writing every day.
Knowing what you need to do but neglecting to do it is something I think a lot of people do, and most would call that behavior “procrastination.” I’m not a Japanese citizen and while I have applied for permanent residency, the application is likely on hold after waiting close to half a year for a result and reporting that I left my last job before the immigration handed down a decision.
Permanent residency in Japan basically means some people in the government have determined that you are contributing to Japan by being here and have a proven track record by having no criminal history and proving you aren’t a burden to society by being employed or running your own business, making enough money. There’s no “official” threshold made public, but it’s rumored that you should be making at least 3,000,000 JPY a year to be considered worthy of being financially independent and able to support yourself in the eyes of the government.
Unfortunately, the pay in Japan is quite cheap for what’s supposed to be a first world country and making that threshold seems to be a challenge for many when choosing to change jobs in search of something that more closely matches what you want to do in life.
On top of low pay, there are high demands and job postings include prepaid overtime often enough to suspect that working over 40 hours a week is the norm and even then it’s barely enough to enjoy small luxuries even when single. What other young foreigners have to go through when budgeting student loan repayment makes me how I’d be living if I had to take a few additional hundred dollars out of my paycheck every month.
Having been out of work for close to a month and a half now, I feel a lot less stress. Too much stress is bad for you but zero stress also causes a problem in that you get rusty and might even lose sight of your purpose in life or just give up. I remember hearing stories of people winning the lottery and ending up miserable despite quitting their jobs and becoming wealthy overnight.
I myself felt a slump in motivation to study even though my future in Japan depends on being employed or facing losing my ability to stay legally as someone who’s not a permanent resident yet. But I’m not letting that stop me from getting much needed self reflection time that’s like a mini unpaid sabbatical leave.
I’m still not sure what the future holds for me but I’m working to be more proactive about making decisions to take me to a more positive state of being. Today I finally felt like I’ve regained the motivation to put in several hours a day of undisturbed dedicated study time. That portfolio isn’t going to build itself and I need more practice to start making something that I can claim to have done alone from start to end without a mentor giving me a cheatsheet to go off of.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 