Finding Yoyu: The Japanese Compass for Navigating Overwhelm and Cultivating Abundance in 7 Key Areas of Life

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the demands of daily life? Struggling to find enough time, energy, or resources to pursue your dreams? In Finding Yoyu, Marci Kobayashi offers a fresh perspective on managing life's challenges through the lens of yoyu—a Japanese concept expressing wherewithal, leeway, oomph, reserves, bandwidth, or capacity. Yoyu is the essence of having enough or rather more than enough, whether it's time, money, energy, or other resources.

Finding Yoyu Books

Drawing from her own experiences living in Japan and caring for her Japanese father-in-law, Marci explores seven essential aspects of yoyu, including time, energy, finances, and spirituality. Through engaging stories and practical exercises, she guides readers on a journey to reclaim balance and abundance in their lives.

Finding Yoyu is for you if:

  • Balancing family and work feels like an uphill battle and you want to learn how to leverage small pockets of time and focus on what truly matters.
  • Despite efforts to plan ahead, you face a persistent lack of energy and need energy-boosting strategies for everyday life and those emergencies when you accidentally hit exhaustion.
  • Helping family is a priority, but you’re feeling financially constrained, struggling to see the positives, and need a way to recognize and leverage other forms of abundance.
  • Family members don’t understand or respect your personal space needs, and the absence of dedicated space calls for ingenious solutions for communicating those needs and how you use shared spaces.
  • Avoiding issues is no longer an option, and you need to feel empowered and centered so that you can initiate difficult conversations with your loved ones.
  • Fatigue and stress from daily life lead to overreactions and inappropriate emotional outbursts that inadvertently hurt your loved ones and you need a way to intercept these outbursts before they occur.
  • Taking care of everyone and everything leaves you feeling tired, lonely, and disengaged and you need a way to tap into the interconnectedness of all things and find joy again.

Targeted at women navigating the complexities of midlife, Finding Yoyu offers a unique blend of cultural insight, personal narrative, and actionable advice. Whether you're dreaming of starting a new career or nurturing your creative passions and instead feel the weight of caring for loved ones with nothing left over for yourself, this book will empower you to embrace abundance and live with purpose.

Marci Kobayashi is a seasoned writer, teacher, and entrepreneur based in Hiroshima. With over three decades of experience living and working in Japan, she brings a wealth of cultural wisdom to her writing. Finding Yoyu is her latest endeavor, born from her journey of caregiving, spiritual exploration, and personal growth.

Finding Yoyu is available in paperback and ebook.

Do you have yoyu?

Here is the original story that inspired me to write Finding Yoyu.

Living in a different culture is not always easy. Living with a spouse is not always easy. And, living with your spouse's elderly father is not always easy, especially if he is navigating Alzheimer's.

No matter where we choose to walk in our "Earthsuits," living is not always easy. But, learning how to have "yoyu" was what helped me survive after my father-in-law came to live with us.

About the Author:

Hi! I’m Marci. I’ve lived in Japan for over 30 years, blending tech, language, and healing in my work. Through caregiving for my father-in-law with Alzheimer’s and supporting my husband’s cancer recovery, I discovered the importance of yoyu—having the time, energy, and emotional reserves to thrive. Now, I share these insights through writing, coaching, and creative projects. My upcoming memoir, Otosan, tells the story of those five transformative years. Let’s connect and create more yoyu in our lives!

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