このページはフレーム対応ブラウザ用に作成されています。下のリンクは非フレーム使用ページですのでそちらをご覧ください。
この記事をプリントする
初めてのときのこと
7歳になる筆者の息子、マックス君は今、読書からサーフィン、スキー、そしてトレッキングまで、さまざまなことを生まれて初めて経験している最中だ。
その彼を見ていると、筆者も日本に来て初めて経験した困難の数々が思い浮かぶ。
日本語に挑戦したこと、母親になったこと、そしてビジネスを始めたこと—。
The first time ...
Last weekend, my son, Max, went trekking for the first time. On a crisp autumn day, he set off to climb Mount Takao with family and friends, including world-famous mountaineer Arlene Blum, who led the first successful all-woman expedition to Mount Annapurna, Nepal.
Arlene passed on a simple but striking message to my young son: "Don't be afraid to try." Max is at the age of experiencing most things for the first time — reading, writing, surfing, skiing and now trekking. Relatively speaking, for most 7 year olds, almost everything they try is like scaling Mount Everest. I can relate to this because during my years in Japan I have had a few of my own mountains to conquer.
Struggling with a foreign language, becoming a mother, and starting a business are all significant "firsts" for me. Each time that I attempt something totally new I seem to follow the same process.
There is a real risk of falling flat on your face when you do a headstand (this is my latest yoga "first."). Subconscious alarm bells warn me that what I am about to attempt is scary, but eventually that subsides and more often than not, I convince myself to give it a go. I cannot allow myself to fear failure. For me, success is about trial and error, confidence and a real commitment to continuous learning. So what if the taxi driver thought that what I said in Japanese was that I wanted him to take me to a place that sold bath towels, not Tokyo Tower? Or the time when I found myself to be pregnant at exactly the same time we made the decision to start our family business? Each time I accepted that I may not get things right at the first try but I should keep on trying until it came right.
Twelve years ago, I trekked in the Himalayan Mountains — a trip including many "firsts" from altitude sickness to camping and trekking. It was a fantastic but grueling adventure. But it taught me how to face challenges in my life. I made it through the trek literally one step at a time. What seemed to be an insurmountable ordeal was broken into small manageable pieces. I walked 10 steps and when I accomplished that, I took another 10 steps, which gave me the confidence to keep going until what seemed like 10 billion steps had been completed.
Arlene was the first American woman to attempt to scale Everest. She did not succeed, but she used her setback and what she learned to successfully tackle the most dangerous summit in the world, Annapurna. I know that I won't take on anything so challenging but I would like to trek in the Himalayas again — with my son. And that would be another wonderful first for both of us!
- went trekking
- トレッキング(山歩き)に出掛けた
- crisp
- さわやかな
- set off
- 出発した
- Arlene Blum
- アーレン・ブルム
- expedition
- 登山隊
- Mount Annapurna
- アンナプルナ山(サンスクリット語で「豊穣の女神」の意。8091メートル)
- passed on
- 〜を伝えた
- striking
- 心に響く
- Relatively speaking
- 相対的に言って
- scaling
- 〜に登ること
- relate to 〜
- 〜が分かる
- firsts
- 初めてのこと
- falling flat on your face
- うつぶせに倒れる(「無残に失敗する」の意も)
- headstand
- (両手と頭で支える)三角倒立
- Subconscious
- 意識下の
- alarm bells
- 警報ベル
- scary
- 怖い
- subsides
- 鎮まる
- more often than not
- たいていは
- convince myself to 〜
- 〜するよう言い聞かせる
- trial and error
- 試行錯誤
- commitment to 〜
- 〜に対して真剣に取り組むこと
- what if 〜
- たとえ〜でも構わない
- found myself to be pregnant
- 妊娠していると分かった
- get things right
- うまくやる
- until it came right
- ちゃんとできるまで
- altitude sickness
- 高山病
- grueling
- 骨の折れる
- literally one step at a time
- 文字通り一歩また一歩と
- insurmountable ordeal
- 克服できない試練
- manageable
- 扱いやすい
- setback
- 挫折
- take on 〜
- 〜に取り組む