Bounce from the Bottom

I would like to tell you about the greatest lesson that I've learned in my entire life, which occurred during the worst point of my life.
When I was 24 years old, I had been working at one of the largest language teaching schools in Japan.  It was then that I made the decision to become a lawyer.
So, why did I decide to become a lawyer?

The story starts when I was 22 years old. 
I was a backpacker traveling around Asia, but I stayed in Bangkok(BKK) for longer than I had originally planned because I joined a amateur football club there and I played almost every day.

It was at this time that I met a Japanese man in BKK who inspired me to change my life. He was a famous teacher at a private school in Japan and he had recently opened a new school in BKK.
It became one of the biggest private schools in BKK. he decided to take me under his wing and allowed me to follow him around. I was expecting that he would hire me, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

So, I returned to Japan and started to work at the language teaching school. Two years passed, and I got an unexpected phone call from BKK. it was him, my mentor. He asked me to come back to Bangkok and work for him. He said “ I wanted you to get some work experience in Japan, and I feel it is now time for you to come and work for me”. 

A little while later, I found myself on a flight.
He formaly offered me a contract of employment which I happily accepted. I had to be back in Japan by Monday morning because I had to work. after arriving in Japan, I went straight to work from the airport and I told my boss that I needed to quit my job right there and then. 

When I was ready to make the big move to BKK, unfortunately a member of my family became very sick. I asked myself “Why now?, Why does it have to be now?..” I couldn’t blame anybody, but I felt so frustrated. I thought about it a lot but I finally decided to stay in Japan.

It was then that I realized my situation. I was unemployed with no future prospects. I didn’t know what to do or where to start. I was so depressed. This was the lowest point of my life.

After a while I started to think about my feelings, “why did I decide to go to BKK in the first place?” I realized that the answer is that I love challenges, BIG challenges. What motivated me to go to BKK was that it was such a great challenge. So, I decided to look for a new challenge here in Japan.

After a lot of thought and reserch, I realized that I wanted to become a lawyer. this was one of the most difficult licenses to get in Japan at that time. This was the challenge that I was looking for. I started to study law from scratch, and I had no knowledge of the subject whatsoever! It was literally ZERO! I had hardly  read the Japanese constitution.

After four long years, I finally passed the bar exam. Right after getting my certificate I called my mentor in BKK. He congratulated me and wished me luck for the future. I felt a sense of closure.

During my career I have taught classes in junior high school and college and I have held seminars in Los Angeles. These are the challenges that I had always dreamed about. How did I accomplish all these things?

I strongly believe that when I hit rock bottom, It was unemployed and my dreams had been shattered. I used this terrible time in my life to motivate me and make me stronger. If I hadn't had experienced this period in my life, I wouldn't be where I am today.

The moral of the story is no matter how hard things get, never give up. if you use negative experiences as motivation, things can and will get better.

So, what I want to say is very simple. “Bounce from the Bottom”.