{"id":7193,"date":"2026-03-27T16:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T03:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/?p=7193"},"modified":"2026-03-27T16:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T03:09:08","slug":"sum-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/sum-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"SUM: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Year\u2019s resolutions tend to fizzle out, and the regret\u2014\u201cI should have done it back then\u201d\u2014returns again and again as time slips by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I resolved to create work for myself, rather than for others. I tried all sorts of things to discover what I love and what I\u2019m good at. I spent the year failing, getting discouraged, and picking myself up again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And after a year like that, a question suddenly comes to me:
Is this really the right path for me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had just settled into a job and kept going, at least I wouldn\u2019t be struggling with a dwindling bank account. As I grow older, what if I remain stuck in this in-between state? If I fail again, how will I accept myself as someone who never quite manages to get anything right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As these thoughts begin to crowd my mind, I find myself thinking of who I was ten years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day in 2017\u2014
I was in my late twenties, with about four million won in my bank account and a plane ticket. Nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving Korea back then was, in truth, an escape. I ran because I didn\u2019t have the strength to face my problems. I was too overwhelmed to see even what was right in front of me, let alone think about the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back now, I realize how trivial my current worries about the future really are. And with that realization comes a quiet sense of shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say life moves in ten-year cycles. If that\u2019s true, I may be standing on the edge of another great turning point. As I approach ten years since 2017\u2014the year that changed my life\u2014I want to reconstruct this story from the memories and fragments I left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to revisit the person I was back then\u2014
at my most lost, yet on the verge of my greatest leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that I can gather the strength to move forward again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once more, I steady my breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Year\u2019s resolutions tend to fizzle out, and the regret\u2014\u201cI should have done it back then\u201d\u2014returns again and again as time slips by. Last year, I resolved to create work for myself, rather than for others. I tried all sorts of things to discover what I love and what I\u2019m good at. I spent the … Continue reading SUM: Introduction<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[82,85,88,86,83],"class_list":["post-7193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sum","tag-essay","tag-find-myself","tag-journal","tag-madam-d","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7199,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7193\/revisions\/7199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}