The Greatest Enemy of My Life Has Appeared! The 30-Year Battle Begins Now

Since we spend our long lives day by day, we inevitably encounter various enemies. What I learned from a young age is that studying can sometimes become a battle. After all, the so-called “exam war” means that from elementary school, the importance of winning battles is hammered into us by those around us. Someone passes, someone fails — that is the fate of exams. If you don’t win the battle, a cruel end awaits. Therefore, even friends around you can sometimes become enemies. The same goes for sports. It’s a contest of winning or losing, and everyone trains hard to win. No one pushes themselves just to lose. The same can be said about work. Every day is a continuous battle. Amidst competing companies, you walk the path of either winning or losing. And sometimes, you even face battles with yourself. That too is reality, and there are times when you must confront formidable enemies.

I always strive to win. Those are words that I live by. Because of that, whatever I’m involved in, I give my all; that’s the path I’ve walked so far. In the world of work, the ultimate goal is to become the number one in customer satisfaction. To achieve that, I’ve done whatever it takes. Whether it’s working 15 hours a day, seven days a week, or pulling all-nighters—it didn’t matter. If there’s something to do for the customer, I just get it done. This is how I’ve kept winning. The same goes for solo day hikes up Mount Fuji in the off-season. Once I decide to climb, I push ahead no matter what. Even if I get altitude sickness, I endure and keep going. If I fall, I get back up again. It was truly a battle with myself, and that memory is still fresh. Running the 1,200 km Shikoku 88 Temple pilgrimage route in 22 days was similar—I pushed myself to my limits. My enemies were time and injury. I had to reach the next temple before sunset, and by enduring the unbearable, I was able to win the battle against time. Although harsh battles have come repeatedly, so far I have barely managed to win them all.

Such pride, however, will not last long. The greatest enemy of my life, one I have long feared, finally appeared just the other day. This formidable and terrifying opponent this time wielded a brainstem aneurysm as its weapon in battle. This troublesome foe has claimed many lives over the years and is incredibly strong. Every male in the Nakajima family line has been struck down by this final boss at the age of 75. Even my mother was taken at 86. For that reason, believing firmly that DNA does not lie, I have undergone a brain scan every year for the past ten years, prepared for the day this formidable enemy might appear. I boast having the strongest body and bone density like someone in their twenties. I have 1.5 vision without glasses and 50 years of continuous fitness training. My lifestyle hasn’t changed at all since my thirties. By every measure, I look youthful, yet my vascular age, alone, has shown the telltale signs of aging over the years through my annual health checkups.

The final boss, the King of my blood vessels, who is fully aware of my body's fatal vulnerabilities, has now launched simultaneous attacks on two blood vessel walls within me. Fortunately, this is just the beginning, and the damage has been kept to a minimum. If I prepare for battle and fight back now, I may be able to drag this out into a long war and withstand the attacks for another 30 years. But if I let my guard down even ever so slightly, the walls could be breached all at once, causing the entire fortress to collapse. This opponent is a master strategist, exploiting every human weakness. Lack of sleep, irregular lifestyle rhythms, insufficient exercise, poor nutrition, smoking, heavy drinking, and excessive stress all mercilessly destroy blood vessels and claim lives. That’s why I must take thorough defensive measures to protect myself. My battle had already begun.

Looking back, there were signs that I was about to be defeated, and all of them were the result of my own actions. First, last May I completed the grueling 1200 km Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage run in 22 days. This put a significant strain on my blood vessels. No matter if I became dehydrated, suffered leg cramps, or my muscles broke down causing excruciating pain that made me scream out loud, I kept running. This extreme challenge thickened my blood and stressed my vessels greatly. Even so, running under the scorching sun caused both my legs to cramp for the first time in my life, and at the end, there were times I had to walk on my hands for support. Of course, this was harmful to my body. Another issue was the relentless work—how many years have I spent staring at a computer for over 10 hours a day? My neck gave out, leading to disks in my neck giving out, and I suffered from severe pain for three months. That pain caused my blood pressure to spike drastically. As the pain persisted, my blood pressure rose to 170–190. This condition lasted for over two months, so it’s no wonder the walls of my blood vessels deteriorated. I had shown weakness to the final boss of blood flow.

Attacking blood vessels is the opponent’s usual tactic, and the high blood pressure caused by cervical spondylosis provided a perfect target. Another factor was the rise in blood pressure from drinking alcohol, which also became an ideal target. Immediately after drinking, alcohol dilates blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. However, after a few hours, it stimulates the autonomic nervous system, causing the vessels to constrict and blood pressure to rise. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I developed a greater fondness for alcohol, which was a common time to start for many drinkers, and this habit has continued until now. Recently, in addition to beer and wine, I started enjoying sake, often unintentionally increasing from one cup to two, and mixing beer with other drinks. Drinking also raised my blood pressure, effectively playing into the enemy’s hands.

Now that the final boss has appeared and begun to break down the fortress I’ve built, I must devise defense strategies with more vigor than ever before. In fact, most countermeasures have already been implemented, and preparations are becoming thorough. I’ve decided to avoid extreme exercise and keep physical training to a level that I can enjoy. Winning marathon races is no longer a goal, but that’s part of life. I also pay close attention to getting proper sleep and allowing my body to rest. That said, I tend to wake up early in the morning, so it’s inevitable that I often get less than five hours of sleep. As for my diet, I continue avoiding greasy foods, start meals with fiber-rich vegetables, eat plenty of fruit and fish, and limit my salt intake. I also moderate my alcohol consumption, drinking no more than two drinks—one or two drinks is something I can overlook. Ideally, I would reduce work-related stress, but that is impossible. Somehow, I often find myself taking care of those around me while working, and before I realize it, it’s past 1 a.m. every night. Perhaps this is my fate. Still, since the work can only be done by me, I allow myself to endure this schedule.

Because this final boss is my greatest enemy, I understand that letting my guard down even for a moment could be fatal. Therefore, whatever I do now, I carefully consider everything in daily life and take the best possible measures to prepare my defenses, so that my arch-enemy could strike at any time—or better yet, never strike at all. When I imagine this battle continuing for another 30 years, I would have expected it to be more burdensome, but surprisingly, I’m beginning to feel otherwise. This, after all, is a battle I intend to win, just like every other enemy I’ve defeated so far. I will simply keep moving forward toward victory. For this reason, I believe it is essential to continue putting in relentless effort and work on both my body and mind every day.