I often get asked “are you always so positive and genki all the time?” Well, mostly, yes.
I wasn’t always like that though. At school I was fat, wore glasses, was bullied and hated it. It was when I left that I decided to change. I read some books on thinking positive, took up Tae Kwon Do, got thin, got contact lenses and never looked back.
Until this week.
Losing your eye sight, even if it’s only temporary after laser eye surgery, really, really messes up your head. For a few days there, and maybe still now, it was as if everything had been washed away. I was empty. Not able to think of anything, anyone or the reasons why I should bother to do anything.
It was a lot like being a teenager, wanting to do things but not being able. I couldn’t see, couldn’t work, couldn’t even go out in the sunshine. I couldn’t do anything.
And it’s when you don’t have anything that depressing thoughts can invade like Harry Potter’s dementors. I never worry and I’m never scared. But last week I was.
Now my eyesight is coming back it is becoming a little better. But it does mean I have to really re-build up why I do everything and re-evaluate where I am and where I am going from scratch.
I very much need and appreciate you all for all your support in my professional life.
And when my girlfriend arrives next week she will certainly be a sight for very sore eyes.
Youre a SUPERHERO!!
And even the strongest superheros have moments when they doubt their powers or the reasons they use them!!
When i hear about your work in countries like China and India i feel proud to say that your my friend and at times it even makes me feel guilty about not doing enough.
Why do you do it?? I for one know about 2000 kids who love and more importantly need what you do!
Get well soon and i know that this is only going to make you stronger!!
Yes, Richard you are a true Genki Superhero, and it’s not because you are genki all the time! You have been extremely generous with your materials, ideas, and time, and know how to inspire those around you.
However it doesn’t surprise me that you were in a funk. You were always on the go, go, go. Take advantage of the down time to learn how to slow down and enjoy the little things, too!
Have a great time with your girlfriend!
Richard,
thank you for sharing also this painful experience with us.
Please, please take your time, sit back and be patient, though it must be soooo hard, when usually working around the clock.
Don’t worry about us, the work you built up and everything you created proofs itself now. The support system on the Forum is so perfect!
Kids are having the greatest fun with all the new songs from CD10 and are going to have a very special Christmas. I would say it’s a perfect timing.
And I think, maybe don’t even try to think about “what” or “Why”.
You will know once you’ve recovered completely.
Most probably you will even have answers to questions you couldn’t answer so far.
It’s one of the hardest times to be “empty”, but take it and trust.
Wonderful smells of Christmas and warmest wishes!
Richard,
I completely agree with others.
What you have done for the world education is spreading further and further everyday from your site, even if you are not sitting at your computer nor standing in the workshop room.
I can hear your voice now, and so can others.
Now is the time to take a rest and think of the other side of your life apart from work with your girlfriend.
Have a warmest Christmas!
and
Get Well Soon!!
Richard, I’m sorry to hear your news and get well soon!
Thanks to Genki English, I can walk into a third and fourth grade class with confidence and help the kids to think, speak and enjoy english!
Thank you!
Hi Richard, don’t do too much with your eyes at the moment. I am very short-sighted. When I was a young girl I was told to expect to be blind by the time I was a teenager. I wasn’t and still am not, but I am very reliant on glasses and contact lenses and sometimes other people, and I know how grateful I am to still be able to see at all.
Give your eyes time to heal.
Richard,
I know how you feel! I think that once your eyes have recovered you will know a whole new world without glasses or contacts.
You have been an inspiration to me and others in the ESL field. I know you will be alright so I wish you a speedy recovery and I hope to see you back on the forum soon!
I am amazed to read about your life as a teenager. After having recently met you I would never have imagined you had such a tough time as a teen. On the other hand maybe this is why you are so fantastic at what you now do for a living!
Why? What? or for Who? – Richard all I can say is that I wish you had seen all my classes in the last couple of weeks. The smiles, laughter and total enjoyment in truly learning the English language, in a style created by you, is so wonderful. How can learning be this much fun, even for the teacher!
Sometimes you have to reassess and it never hurts to stop and rethink things. When I was very ill in April I imagined all sorts of things. I thought about my children and husband losing me, on those dark days, as I awaited the results of my operation. Thankfully somebody ‘up there’ decided that it was not my time yet. I now live everyday in a different way. I do not dwell on the negatives and always look forward. Losing the ability to hear, see, move freely, talk or even just to communicate is so awful. I really did not appreciate what you had been through and feel so bad for not wishing you well before. Do take care and rest. We will all of course miss you, but as you can see from the previous comments everyone understands and supports you.
Take care and Get Well Soon!!!
Hi Richard,
I completely agree with all the comments above. All the work you’ve done is just amazing. And moreover, it’s being used all over the world. What else do you want us to say? I must confess that I’d like to meet you to see all that enthusiasm in person but owning and working in a private school is sometimes difficult to combine with courses during the academic year.
I also want to add something about LASIK. My boyfriend, John (from Yorkshire; I just mentioned it ‘coz I think you’re from there too) had his eyes lasered in Leeds last summer and it took him a few days to recover.The first ones were horrible for him. He could hardly open his eyes and was told to close them for 4 or 5 hours after the operation. Then he had to wear sunglasses, and use 3 types of drops. After a week he had a test done and his vision was better than previously expected. Now I envy him because I use contact lenses and it’s so annoying getting up in the morning and seeing all blurred or wearing them when I swim. I might get mine lasered one day too.
I must say I feel a bit sad some days too when I think about my hip arthritis. I’ve been suffering it since I was 18 but I just found out last year (I am now 31). This means that one new in a near future I’ll have to get operated and get a replacement, which doesn’t normally last more than 12 years nowadays. After that operation I won’t be able to have children. But what most worries me is the fact that I’ll have to depend on those replacements to walk. But then I think that there’s no point in thinking negatively and that I have to enjoy the present I hope that I’ll be able to continue doing what I’m doing now.
Anyway, I also wanted to let you know that John and I have just bought new premises in Elche (Spain) and are thinking about new projects for our private language school, so any ideas are welcome now that the walls and everything is still being built.
Happy Christmas everybody and get well soon, Richard!!
Richard, as I’m learning now you can’t appreciate the highs if you don’t experience the lows. I’m having lows at the moment too but still feel sure I’ll find the highs again one day.
Everyone has made great comments. What can I add? You ARE a superhero, an inspiration to us all, generous and always thinking about what to do next. Your life is BUSY! I couldn’t keep up with all you do!
This surgery may have awoken some old painful memories but you are in a different place now in your ‘journey’! You now know what good things you are capable of and how much you have impacted this planet! Not many people can say that…
Let’s face it, this surgery was done to improve your life, not for a dire reason like Flossy (or me). This is already something great! And yes recovery stinks. But it’ll be fine in the end. Give it TIME to heal, one thing, you seem to defy with all the things you do at once!!;-)
Relax and LET GO. Plus there’s a girfriend in the picture…great!! Life isn’t just made up of work either. Life is a question of balance. Everything will swing back to normal. Enjoy your down time to feel things that you have been too busy to notice perhaps… time to really smell the roses.
A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you Richard!
Dear Richard,
As everyone has pointed out, I am thankful for how much you have so generously given us with all your constant passion. God has sent you a Christmas present, a time to heal and relax Richard, and your girlfriend is a super bonus, SHE will definitely be your healer!
I cannot also help mentioning how thankful I am for the fact we are surrounded by all these amazing people, everybody who has given out commnents here have the most wonderful positive mentality and it is a great support not only for Richard but for me as well. I am not the strongest person at all and it really indeed helps me to read all your comments. Thanks everyone out there, you are awsome people!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas in each and its own way, and a great year in 2010 from Kawasaki, Kanagawa.
Get well soon Richard and pls take care.
Looking so much forward to seeing you back!
P.S: to Rosebud, I will be praying so you will be in your highs again. Please hang on and take good care.
Mate… you just need to un-plug for a bit.. Have a well deserved rest and a bit of “me time”…
You’ll be back as good as new..
Regards
Jerry in Hyogo-ken