How Do You Handle Stress? (Questioner) We all feel stressed out
as we go through our day.
I'm curious how you cope with stress.
I also want to know
if you ever struggle mentally,
and if so, how you work through it. (Sunim) Think about it.
I live alone, I have no wife, no kids. My parents have passed away. Do I have a lot of things
to be concerned about? I don't. If I were a young man,
I may miss being with women.
I'm old now and that phase has passed.
So what would I be worried about?
I don't have much worries
as you may think. (Audience Laughter) (Questioner) Well, college students
like myself feel stressed out. What stressful situations
are you talking about? Why are you stressed
while attending school? (Questioner) For instance, I'd have
an assignment due tomorrow. But I'd have no time. If you have an assignment due tomorrow, Then complete it by tomorrow.
Stay up all night. I finished a manuscript and
sent it to off to Seoul yesterday morning. They asked me to revise it. They wanted me to make adjustments to it.
I got it back last night. I finished my lecture
at 10:30 pm in Mokpo.
I had a lecture this morning in Chungju.
I left Mokpo at 10:30pm last night,
arrived in Chungju at 1:30am. I worked on the manuscript
from 2am to 9am. I haven't slept at all. I packed and sent the manuscripts back
by express bus route. I finished my lecture in Chungju and came
directly here. I slept a little in the car I don't do this everyday.
But sometimes these things do happen. At times I don't get any sleep
for 2 days straight. If I take such instances
as stressful situations, then they are. There are times I need to work on my
manuscripts, and yet I don't have the time
I'd just carry them around in my bag.
From my experience, if something's okay
to postpone, you'd postpone it. And yet when something is impossible
to postpone, and it's absolutely urgent, You will get it done. If you're only stressed out by it,
it means you have time to spare. (Audience Laughter) (Audience Applause) (Questioner) Okay. I understand. When something is really urgent,
you can't afford to feel stressed out. You claim you're too tired
to wake up in the morning. But what would happen if a bomb goes off?
You'd jump up and run away instantly.
We're being lazy
because we can still afford to. We can't live in tension everyday.
Hence we complain all the time. But once you graduate from school
and get a job, you'll realize that
life as a student was easier. Life as a student is
the most easiest time of your life. And yet elementary school kids claim
they have it the hardest. They yearn to go to middle school. Once they go to middle/high school, they
yearn to go to college. They study hard to get in. They think
college will resolve all issues. Once they enter, they realize
it doesn't end there. Once they graduate,
they struggle to get a job. They think once they get a job,
all would be good. But once they get a job, they struggle. They think getting married
will end all misery. Once they get married, it gets tougher. It gets even tougher
when they have children. There is no end to agony in life.
In a way you have it the easiest right now Looking back, you will realize
you had it easy. You thought middle school was hard, but
looking back, they were good times, no? Young people are never happy
about their youth. They yearn to grow up. They yearn to stay out late,
grow hair longer, wear shorter skirts like the adults do.
They envy adults. And yet once they grow up,
they realize it's better to be young.
In that sense, life is good every moment.
Spring is good as it is.
So is Summer, Fall and Winter. It was hard for me to work on my
manuscript all night. But later if I look back, I'd realize it was nice that
I could afford to write. So seize the moment. I don't mean you should only
have fun and not work. You should try and enjoy the work you do. Had I been paid to work
on the manuscript all night, I would technically
have worked all night. Had I paid to do a 100 lectures tour,
it would have felt like a lot of work. I would probably hate my boss.
I'd think, 'Is he trying to kill me?'
And yet because I enjoy it, it's okay.
Farmhands in the old days
would stay up all night and play card games on winter nights. They'd play all night. Playing would be
more tiring than their day job. (Audience Laughter) And yet because they enjoyed it, They were able to get up
in the morning and go to work If you see it as stressful,
you'll feel stressed. Don't consider studying as an obligation. You have the freedom and right
to enjoy studying as a student. The ones that have it harder
are actually your parents, not you. You're not the one that has it hard. Your parents don't complain,
and yet you do. (Audience Laughter) It's not that I can't empathize with you.
I can. What I'm suggesting is that
you change how you're feeling. Some of you may want to study abroad,
but you can't afford to. You'd think those who study abroad
would enjoy themselves. They don't. You have it easier.
They almost go insane.They are half dead. To them I share my secrets
on writing a thesis. Why is it hard to write a thesis? It's hard if you try to write
about something you don't know. (Audience Laughter)
So this is how you should write a thesis.
Just write without referring
to books or references. Write the whole thing without revising. Then supplement it,
add things, revise, and fix afterwards. I've personally been wanting to write
a book about the unification of Korea. I've been wanting to write it for the
last 20 years, but I haven't had time. During my lecture tour last winter,
I fell ill. Two people came seeking to talk to me. I had to meet them
even though I felt very ill. When you have something you must do,
just plug it into your plan. Stick them into your schedule. Then you'll get to them
one way or another. That's how you get things done.
Nothing gets done by idly wasting time.
Everything gets done
in the midst of a busy schedule. Having extra time only makes you lazy. This is how life works.
Nothing happens easily in life. Even a person like me
has a tighter schedule than you do. And yet I don't get stressed out. I already have a year's worth of
schedules planned. I run around like a hamster on a wheel. If I consider my schedule as deathly,
it becomes deathly. But what if I think of it as traveling? Have any of you been to
every county in Korea? I would have by the end of this year It's because I have lectures Across every city hall,
county office and district office. Hence I'll be traveling the country
all Spring, all Summer and Fall. I would have been in every
remote valley of Gangwondo, Jeonrado I bet there is no one
that has explored the country like I have. I might be the first person to do so, no? I would learn all the geographic names
of places I travel. If I think of it as traveling,
it becomes a great experience. Moreover I'll also be welcomed
by hundreds of people as a travel.
Always think positively.
That's my secret. It's not that I don't
have stressful situations. Turn it into a playful thing.
Then the stressful situations go away. There's no need to drink, sing, dance
to relieve your stress.
What you do itself can relieve stress. (Questioner) Thank you.
