Stonger than the Struggle

On Father’s Day, I spent time thinking about my dad. He’s been gone for three years now—some days it seems like it’s been much longer, other days it seems like a fresh wound. Either way, he’s not here and didn’t get to see my first book, 2012: The Rising, published.

Speaking of that first book, I started writing it in 2009. It should have been out to agents and publishing houses in 2010. But when my dad died in May 2010, my life stopped. I didn’t run well that year and I didn’t write much that year. 2010 was the only year since I started NANO that I failed to make my fifty thousand words.

I kick myself for not persevering. Since my book is specifically about whether or not Earth would end on December 21, 2012 (which it obviously didn’t), I should have given it the attention it needed so it could have been published earlier and not on December 14, 2012. I often wonder if sales would have been better, had I not shut down.

I remember all the times in my life when I wanted to quit. My dad told me that the Hirase mind is stronger than the struggle, so I must keep going. That’s why I kept taking swimming lessons,  that’s why I’ve never had a DNF (did not finish) in a race, that’s why I finished law school, that’s why I completed my book in 2011.

Thanks to my dad’s advice, I am a strong athlete, I have a satisfying career, and I am a published author.

“Stronger than the struggle” is a great mantra that lifts my spirits when I’m ready to quit, and keeps me driving forward.

Thanks, Dad.