📖 Introduction
Many students and young professionals today live under enormous pressure to succeed.
They constantly compare themselves to others, obsess over achievement, worry about the future, and feel trapped by anxiety, perfectionism, and endless self-criticism.
Even people who appear highly motivated and successful externally may silently struggle with exhaustion, inferiority, fear of failure, and emotional burnout.
This powerful meditation testimonial shares the story of Jin-seok L., a university student who once believed success was the mission of his life.
Although he achieved impressive academic results, studied abroad, earned high TOEIC scores, and built what many would consider a strong résumé, internally he lived with constant anxiety, perfectionism, and obsessive thoughts about the future.
Through meditation and deep self-reflection, he gradually realized that much of his obsession with success actually came from wanting recognition, approval, and validation from others.
As he learned to let go of those minds, his anxiety, pressure, perfectionism, and fear about the future naturally began disappearing.
Now, instead of endlessly worrying about becoming someone in the future, he says he can finally live fully and peacefully in the present moment.
This meditation testimonial beautifully demonstrates how meditation can help reduce anxiety, perfectionism, stress, obsessive thinking, and fear about the future while restoring clarity, confidence, focus, and inner peace.
💬 Meditation Testimonial: “Zero Anxiety! I No Longer Worry About the Future”
By Jin-seok L. | University Student
🌎 I Thought Success Was My Mission in Life
“Master multiple foreign languages and professional knowledge, become the CEO of the world’s greatest multinational corporation, make wise decisions, and use the money I earn to help poor people.”
To me, this was not simply a dream.
It felt like a mission I absolutely had to accomplish.
Because I had always been highly driven toward being the best, once I entered university I threw myself completely into studying English and my major.
I achieved high TOEIC scores, successfully transferred schools, studied abroad as an exchange student, and built what people call an impressive “employment résumé.”
I believed I was an ambitious and forward-thinking person.
And yet, despite all that, I constantly felt anxious and restless.
⚠️ The Further My Goals Drifted Away, the More Obsessive I Became
The anxiety came from the growing gap between reality and my ideal future.
My obsession with success kept growing larger and larger like a snowball.
Eventually, the psychological pressure became so intense that after sitting through just one hour of class, I needed to rest.
I became obsessed with understanding every lecture perfectly without missing a single detail.
I constantly compared myself with other students and felt inferior.
Even during presentations, I became painfully conscious of how others viewed me.
My body remained tense and rigid all the time.
And after classes ended, all my energy had already been drained from those thoughts, leaving me exhausted and helpless.
Meanwhile, the goals I desperately wanted kept feeling farther away.
I repeatedly tried to force myself to change this obsession.
But no matter how hard I struggled, the result only became more suffering.
The thought of living the rest of my life trapped inside that state felt horrifying.
So eventually, I began searching for a solution.
🌧️ Counseling Helped Temporarily — But the Root Never Changed
I first visited my university counseling center.
For six months, counseling occasionally made me feel temporarily better.
But fundamentally, nothing changed.
Logically, I understood what I should do.
But the mind that actually moves a person had not changed.
Surprisingly, the person who suggested a real solution was my father.
He had discovered this meditation through a book and recommended it to me.
So despite having countless assignments waiting for me, I decided to leave everything behind and go practice this meditation.
🌱 “Can You Really Throw Away the Mind?”
The method of this meditation made sense immediately.
For the first time, I felt there might actually be a way to escape the suffering that had trapped me for so long.
Honestly, I found it hard to believe.
So I repeatedly asked:
“If you really throw away the mind… does it actually disappear?”
And as I practiced more, I became certain that it truly did.
Of course, letting go of the mind was not easy.
Because I was extremely meticulous and perfectionistic, it took me much longer than others to honestly reflect on and discard the life I had built inside myself.
And because I constantly imagined what I would become afterward — wondering whether I was “doing meditation correctly” — the process sometimes felt extremely difficult.
Still, throughout that process, I experienced several shocking realizations.
💡 I Realized My “Perfect Life” Was Built on Wanting Approval
Less than two weeks after beginning meditation, I discovered something hidden deep inside me.
When I was younger, I had secretly vowed to become successful someday in order to prove myself to people who had once suppressed or hurt me.
I had convinced myself that I wanted success in order to help others.
But underneath that justification was actually a desire for revenge and recognition.
In the end, I saw clearly that my obsession with success came from wanting others to admire me and recognize me.
And that realization hit me hard.
“All this time, I believed I lived for others… but I was actually deeply selfish.”
Even my perfectionism, which I had considered a virtue, was really just another clever tool to decorate and protect my ego.
When I realized that truth, tears of repentance came naturally.
At the same time, I finally understood the true root of my anxiety, restlessness, and obsession.
I had never set goals based on what I could realistically do in the present.
Instead, I stubbornly clung only to idealized goals based on what I wanted to become.
I obsessed over efficiency and became emotionally trapped even by tiny outcomes.
Inside that narrow mental world, I was endlessly running in place.
But in reality, all I needed to do was simply give my best within my present conditions.
Nothing more.
🌿 Now I Simply Live Fully in the Present
As countless unconscious thoughts that had driven me for years gradually disappeared, even my physical appearance began changing.
People told me my face looked healthier and brighter.
And now, whenever something needs to be done, I notice my body simply moving into action naturally.
These days, time passes so quickly that I almost feel sad when the day ends.
Because whatever I do now, I do it without endless distracting thoughts and worries — and that makes life genuinely enjoyable.
Even studying my major, which I once hated, has become surprisingly easy to focus on.
During lectures, instead of obsessing over understanding everything perfectly, I simply focus on understanding what I can in that moment.
Ironically, that relaxed mindset actually made me more efficient.
Even presentations no longer make me overly nervous, and I barely worry about others’ opinions anymore.
Honestly, I sometimes feel amazed by this new version of myself — someone who can finally accept himself exactly as he is.
Looking back now, the version of me that constantly feared the future feels almost foolish.
Because the future I endlessly imagined never actually existed.
The mind I am using right now — and the actions I am taking right now — those are the real “me.”
The imaginary future version I once obsessed over was never truly me at all.
And because I now understand that clearly, there is no longer any reason to feel anxious, restless, or afraid about a future that has not even arrived yet.
