I had an Awesome August, I really did. The pandemic might not be over yet, but I think I found my stride amidst the safe distancing, slow consumption, and simple hermit-like existence.

I’m ending the month feeling optimistic, and a growing sense of excitement in my belly. To me, that’s already a hands-down victory, even if I didn’t do much (but I did). After all the emotionally challenging months through lockdown, there’s now a glimmer of hope. The future feels possible again. Not everything is peachy though. Money is still a problem. Finding gigs is still hard. But the mental landscape had definitely changed seasons, for sure. It’s sunny summer now. And I’m happy, and happily challenged.

Winning move

The top winner is really my one hour of code everyday. I had crossed a full month of coding sometime in August, and never looked back since. As of today, I think I created about 10 side projects which can stand alone as products in themselves The rush I get from producing prolifically while learning joyfully; from feeling victorious by squashing bugs daily, gave me a deep sense of satisfaction in my work. A growing sense of fulfilment that had eluded me previously. Strange! Who would have guessed, that I would actually enjoy coding (when I was fighting it for the longest time)?! 

Work

The inspiration tank is topping back up again, as I re-started listening to podcasts while I’m out to buy lunch. It’s amazing how this simple little habit can shift things, without me making any major lifestyle disruptions. Just 30-60min of listening provided more quality, long-form content where I learned so much more about entrepreneurship and coding than I could snacking on superficial snippets on Facebook and Twitter.

Wealth

On the money side of things, I could definitely do more. Did monthly review of expenses, but not much on the other revenue-generating aspects or gig-hunting. But it helped that I got some grant money from creating a chat bot. Perhaps I can explore that venue more. 

Health

On target for weight goals. The strict keto, intermittent fasting and cold thermogenesis is working, as per previous experience. Down to the higher end of 66kg, almost there. Inflammation seems down too from avoiding PUFAs. Early sleep is still not regular unfortunately - more needs to be done, and I do need to take sleep more seriously, just like how I take what I eat seriously. Remnants of an old paradigm that sleep can be sacrificed for work and fun - an deeper shift is required there I believe. I’d completely failed at re-starting my workouts and runs this month. Not even once. The only ‘exercise’ I do now is walking up the stairs for seven floors everyday after lunch. Perhaps I can borrow the momentum from this pre-existing habit and just do a run just before lunch? Hmmm. 

Overall, an Awesome August for sure. Can’t wait to leap head-first into September!