Life lessons: Chieko’s four simple sentences

After almost dying from a kidney rupture in 2016, I decided to do things differently. To spend my time more wisely and make more memories. I also started asking people I’d meet for life advice. This category highlights some of the advice I got over the years.

I love you

Forgive me

I’m Sorry

Thank you

I can not say I really know Chieko. But Chieko has been in my life most of my life. I had never met her, as she lived in Japan, a few thousand miles from where we grew up. But she had been a friend of my mom for long and from time to time stories with or about Chieko would pop up.

So when I was in Japan in 2016 to hike the Kumano Kodo, I made sure to visit Tokyo as well and meet up with Chieko. We spent the evening having some amazing local food and had a great night. During our conversations, I asked her what her best life advice was.

Her best advice was to use these four key sentences more often: