Konbanwa! Good evening everyone! After I posted last night's post in English, I received some very warm comments from some of my friends and customer that really moved me. Thank you to those who reached out, it really made my day! I wanted to talk a little today about 【一歩足を踏み入れる】 pronunciation: IPPO ASHI-O FUMI IRERU (Damn, I hope everyone got that because the pronunciation looks whack to me) Defintion: Making the first move, taking the first step forward, making a step If you came from my Instagram, you may have noticed that I recently started posting a lot about Coach Emi (Emi Mutaguchi), one of my old friends from IMG Academies. We actually reunited quite recently and are currently working on a lot of exciting projects together that we can't wait to show you! She has already implemented our veggies in her tennis program and vice versa. Anyways, Emi and I shared our days together at IMG Academies when we were in high school, and we became close during my second year in Florida. Back then, there were very few Japanese athletes at IMG so I remember being very happy to be able to speak in Japanese with someone my age.
For those of you who may/may not know her, our tennis level was worlds apart. Emi was ranked in the top 50s in the world, on the Japanese national team, and was always in the main draw at every tournament possible, and in contrast I was probably ranked somewhere in the 1000s. (I'm just trying to be honest.) But we got a long well because of our nationality, similar upbringing, and love for tennis. Then we both left IMG and spoke to each other here and there but nothing too serious after high school. Years went by. We actually reconnected at the beginning of this year through Instagram. Wow, what a modern day we live in. She was answering to one of her fans on Instagram stories, and the questions was, "Coach Emi, when will you coach in Kansai?" and her response was, "I would love to, but I don't really have that many connections in Kansai." Insert my background info: ・I was born and raised in Ashiya, Hyogo AKA Kansai region ・From the end of last year I was really thinking/wanting to make a new sports tourism business with tennis because tennis has and always will be a huge part of my identity. When I saw this on her Instagram stories, there were a few things that ran into my mind. "Should I reach out to her?" "But what if she doesn't respond?" "Maybe it's a stupid idea" And this is where一歩足を踏み入れる comes in. Defintion: Making the first move, taking the first step forward, making a step Sometimes in life, we don't know whether we should make that first move or not. We question ourselves if the other person feels the same way, and fear that by making that first move there is a possibility of being rejected. When I say this I'm talking about every kind of relationship whether it be friendship, business, family, or love. I've learned through my experiences that sometimes you just have to "shoot your shot" to see if you have a chance or not and if they feel the same, that's great. And even if they don't, that's ok too. You will surivive. To be honest in the past, I used to not be able to think like this because of my big pride/ego but now I really think it's better to show your true intentions and how you truly feel because hiding behind a wall doesn't do anybody any good. I'm so glad that I reached out to Emi, right when I saw her post at the beginning of this year because if it wasn't for that initial first step, I don't think we would have reunited our wonderful friendship that we have today. My last words are for Emi because I know she is reading this: Dear Emi, Thank you for always being genuine, honest, and upfront with me. I respect you not only as a woman, but as an entrepreneur, and as a friend. You're one of the reasons why I started to upload everyday on the weekdays on my blog and I’m extremely grateful that we reconnected after all this time. Let’s continue to WOW everyone with our future projects, they might not be ready;) Love you always! 真心を込めて。 Rika CEO in training
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