Too often we are scared. Scared of what we might not be able to do. Scared of what other people might think if we tried. We let our fears stand in the way of our hopes. We say no when we want to say yes. We sit quietly when we want to scream. And we shout along with others, when we should keep quiet. Why? After all, we only live once. There’s no time to be afraid, no time to give in to fear. So stop.

 Try something you have never tried. Risk yourself. Enter a competition. Write a book. Demand a salary raise. Throw away your television. Bicycle across the country. Learn an instrument. Try anything. Speak out against corruption. Travel to a place where you don’t speak the language. Invent something. Call someone you love. You have nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain. Just do it.

我々はいつも怖がっている。出来ないかもしれないと怖がり、トライしてみる事を他人にどう思われるか怖がり、恐怖心に希望を失う。「Yes」と言いたい時に「No」と言う。叫びたいときには静かに座り込み、口をつぐむべき時には他人と一緒になって叫ぶ。何故だろう？人生は一度きりだ。怖がっている時間も恐怖心に迷う時間もない。

だから、新しい事をしなさい。リスクを負ってみなさい。競ってみなさい。本を書いてみなさい。昇給を要求しなさい。テレビを捨てて自転車で国を横断してみなさい。新しい楽器を学んでみなさい。なんでもやって見る事。 堕落に対して反論してみなさい。 言葉の分からない国に旅にでてみなさい。新しいものを開発しなさい。愛する人に電話をかけなさい。失うものはなく、得るものは多い。やってみること。

Nike

This poster was originally created for English as a Second Language (ESL) learning tool for students in Japan. The kanji characters included are Japanese. I’ve put them online so that others may share them as well. I hope this wisdom will be both inspiration and motivation for you, as well as teachers and students around the world. Enjoy and share!