Alone

    Living in Nagoya is strange. I knew it would be difficult, but the things that I thought would be difficult sorted themselves out in the first week, and the things I didn't think about became increasingly hard to deal with. 

 

    I thought the trains and crowed streets would be overwhelming, and sometimes they can be. Nagoya station is the 8th busiest train station in the world. I see more people on my commute in one morning that I do in two weeks at home in rural Michigan. But for the most part people are polite and reserved. I may be surrounded, but no one talks to me or pays me the slightest bit of interest. It's an introvert's dream. 

 

    However, one thing I wasn't prepared for was discovering that I lack any true coping mechanisms to face life in Nagoya. At home, if I start feeling overwhelmed I can go for a run at the park, where I'll be by myself. I can climb a tree and trade insults with the songbirds. I can play music under the nearby bridge. I can go shooting. I can chop firewood. But all my coping mechanism are loud or destructive (or in some cases, both) two things I can't be while living in Nagoya.

 

 

    There is a truly beautiful park less than five minutes away from my apartment, but even if I go at 5:30 in the morning, I won't be alone. At the office there are people. At the library there are people. At the cafe there are people. At the apartment are my roommates. Even in the middle of the night, if I have to go to convenience store, there are still people. There's a lot of loneliness in the city, but no solitude. It's an introvert's nightmare. 

    I'm learning to navigate, both the crowded public transportation and the new way of life. Things are simultaneously so much easier than I thought they would be, and much, much harder. If I could ask that you will pray for me to discover new coping mechanisms that won't be disruptive, but will help me maintain my equilibrium while I live here?  

Thank you,

Lissy