To those who live without knowing that flowers bloom and fall
Poet Na Tae-ju's beautiful promise,
“I promise, it will definitely get better.”

As you live, you may encounter dark moments at some point.
When things don't work out, when you can't live the way you want, when you fail in love, when you're in danger at work...
At times like that, it feels like I'm walking through a tunnel with no exit in sight.
Even poet Na Tae-ju, who always seemed to be happy, loving, and only seeing pretty things, had such a time.
Sixteen years ago, I was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis and was told I had only three days to live.


Poet Na Tae-ju had been a fighter until then.
He was a man who didn't know how to lose.
I taught my children that they should be good at everything.
I thought that was the only way to live well.
It wasn't until I was on the brink of death that I realized there were things more important than trying to do everything well and struggling to win.


Being grateful for the little things like eating and sleeping, looking at the sky and being indiscriminately happy when it rains, focusing on each and every moment like when my daughter calls to ask how I am or when I take a walk around the neighborhood with my wife…
As he cherished such things, poet Na Tae-ju's life began to overflow with joy, positivity, and energy.
The process and story are fully captured in the essay, “I Promise It Will Get Better.”


One day, when things aren't going well in life, when suddenly dark days continue, this is the book to read.
Life can be dark these days, when we live without even realizing that flowers are blooming or that they have all fallen on a spring day when flowers are in full bloom.
It's okay.
Poet Na Tae-ju also realized that winning is not everything in life after he turned sixty.
Because I learned that falling down is not a big deal.
The poet offers a magical word to those who feel they are walking down a dark path.


“You’re okay.
“You can start over now.”

This book was also published as an audiobook featuring the voice of actress Kim Young-ok.
The greatest strength of this book is that it features the soothing voice of poet Na Tae-joo, delivered through the voice of Kim Young-ok, a top actor and voice actor in Korea with over 70 years of acting experience.

This book is not a diary of a terminally ill person who comes back to life and records his past mistakes and new life.
This book is a record of what I learned only after I was sick.
It is a message of joy and positivity to the beautiful people living in this beautiful world.
But I, too, am still clumsy at losing, loving, and being happy, so perhaps this book is a recommendation that it's okay to be the way I am now.

---From the "Prologue"

On a spring day when flowers are in full bloom, you don't even realize that they are blooming, on a summer day when the green is getting deeper, you don't even realize that a shower is falling, on an autumn day you don't even realize that the mountains are turning red, and on a winter day when the first snow is falling heavily, you forget the excitement of love.
That kind of life can be dark.
It's okay.
Miracles do happen.
Falling down and getting up, waking up in the morning and washing your face, going out and coming back home… … .
Your every action is a miracle.
I encourage all of you who are seeking miracles through this book.

---From the "Prologue"

If there's something you like, then do it.
If you are too eager to show off, you will only end up hurting your pride and being hurt.
If you do something you like, you won't get hurt even if you stop doing it.
At times like that, even if you fall and scrape your knees, your self-esteem remains.

--- p.23

The dark tunnels we encounter as we live, the paths that are long or short.
It's fortunate that you get out quickly, but there's no need to be frustrated or discouraged by the long tunnel.
I realized this only after I was trapped in that tunnel, and this book is a record of that.
It's not like, 'I was sick like this and got up, so you should do the same.'
It means, 'If someone like me can overcome it, you can too.'

--- p.29

Falling down is not failure.
Failure is the turning point.
A turning point is not a U-turn where you go back again.
It's not like I'm telling you to go back on the difficult path you've already taken.
The turning point is changing the path you were on and going on a better path.

--- p.33

The doctor in charge is said to have called the family and informed them of the final decision.
If things continue like this, I will have difficulty breathing within three or four days and will need to be put on an oxygen mask. Then, in three or four days, I will stop breathing again, so I think it would be best to prepare for the next step.
It is said that at that time there was no other solution.

--- p.63

Is someone who conquers others and himself a successful person? I no longer think so.
Only when you are someone who knows how to quietly give in to others can you become someone who knows how to shine on your own.
It's a shame that I didn't teach my son how to lose and set an example for him, rather than my daughter.
I think I only showed my child how to live a very rigid life and did not want that to happen to him.
Knowing how to lose is also a mental ability.
That is something that requires broad-mindedness, flexibility, and generosity.
A life lived tightly, a life ahead, a life of victory are all good.
But sometimes, a life that quietly gives in can be beautiful enough because it is gentle and leisurely.
--- p.105

It was a new and surprising experience to hear about things I had never known about before.
There were many things that made me think, "That's how it was."
I was especially surprised and perplexed when I heard the doctor's desperate declaration and the story about the burial site issue during the formation of the funeral committee.
According to his wife, at the time, everyone outside was fully prepared and waiting, but the patient himself was completely unprepared to die.

--- p.118

Ah, how could I close my eyes alone, leaving this person behind! Only then did I realize that the most precious person in this world was my wife.
To learn such an important fact only now! But knowing it now is better than not knowing it at all, and isn't it far better than dying without even knowing it?
It also became a valuable opportunity for enlightenment in its own way.
Humans cannot live without love even for a moment.
But I learned too late that in order to love, you have to look back sometimes.

--- p.208

Life, at any moment, for any person, is shining, beautiful, a supreme blessing, gratitude, happiness, and joy itself.
No, life itself is itself, nature, the universe itself, the essence.
Let no one talk nonsense in front of life.
I live because I can't die.
I want to die.
I live reluctantly.
Don't say that.
This is an insult to life.
I live just because I want to live.
Life is about living because you want to survive, because you want to live no matter what.
As my father said to me one day in the intensive care unit, in a desperate state, while his son was dying, 'this world is still a world that is still beautiful and shining, jingling.'

---From the "Epilogue"