I miss you terribly sometimes, but in general I go on living with all the energy I can muster. Just as you take care of the birds and the fields every morning, every morning I wind my own spring. I give it some 36 good twists by the time I've got up, brushed my teeth, shaved, eaten breakfast, changed my clothes, left the dorm, and arrived at the university. I tell myself, "OK, let's make this day another good one." I hadn't noticed before, but they tell me I talk to myself a lot these days. Probably mumbling to myself while I wind my spring.
Haruki MurakamiYou know what girls are like. They turn twenty or twenty-one and all of a sudden they start having these concrete ideas. They get super realistic. And when that happens, everything that seemed so sweet and lovable about them begins to look ordinary and depressing.
Haruki MurakamiThis uneasiness comes over me from time to time, and I feel as if I've somehow been pieced together from two different puzzles.
Haruki MurakamiFor me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself. At least thatโs why Iโve put in the effort day after day: to raise my own level. Iโm no great runner, by any means. Iโm at an ordinary โ or perhaps more like mediocre โ level. But thatโs not the point. The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.
Haruki MurakamiAnd it was the kind of thing that loses the most important nuances when reduced to words. He had never told anyone about it, and he probably never would.
Haruki Murakami