How does one even review a whole decade? This is the first time I’m doing this in a more serious way, but it feels necessary. After all, this year is also the year I turned 40. It does feel significant in a way. 

There’s way too much material and milestones in the 2010s to plough through, which would be hard to make any meaning. Maybe using Tim Ferriss’s Past Year Review of positive and negative would be simpler. So it is—a Past DECADE Review of positive and negative:

?POSITIVE

Full circle on my mission in social impact work

Started(ish) and ended my search for social impact in my work. Start of the decade I was already working in the social service sector for about 3 years. Then had a brief hiatus doing design freelance, before going on to being a civil servant designing for the public good. Though I had left the civil service since, I still design for the public good as a consultant working with government agencies. It’s been a more than a decade of serving my country. I think I’d paid my dues of gratitude to the society and system that brought me up safe. I’m ready to move on now, to a new mission.

An eclectic but self-determined career is my path

Started my first business in 2011, started again in 2015, till present. I think through this decade, I truly realised that I deeply enjoy working for myself, and being able to bring my whole self—all of my skills, interests, idiosyncrasies, talents, hobbies—to my work. Creativity AND pragmatism. Wide-eyed daydreams AND meticulous money-mindedness. Discipline to do the dirty work AND devil-may-care attitude to say NO. I love to be able to embrace all the opposites of myself into my work. From my previous jobs, I had shown that I can do well in employment, but it’s unlikely to give me long term happiness, as every job/organisation needs to straitjacket you into role(s), which I now feel is limiting to my whole self. 

Marriage

Met and married my wife. Marriage is a lifelong journey, and I’m so glad to have found a partner and soulmate in values and vision. The decade had solidified our relationship. I now know what settling down really feels like. It’s a deeply grounding and comforting feeling.

15 countries in 10 years

I traveled a lot in my 30s. Countries visited: 

Malaysia??, Indonesia??, Thailand??, Vietnam??, Myanmar??, Philippines??, India??, Bhutan??, Japan??, France??, Iceland??, Norway??, Denmark??, Sweden??, Finland??.

It’s the best years to do so, isn’t it? Less commitments, but with some purchasing power after years of work. But I could feel the wanderlust winding down somewhat by the end of this year. It was very apparent after my retreat in Bali. Well, after so many memories, I think I’m good. For now.

?NEGATIVE

The slippery slope of health and wellbeing

Declining health and vitality from 30s all the way down to my 40s. Progressively gained weight, stopped exercising much, got way too stressed due to work, eating habits got worse. It was, after all, a season of hustling, a time of overachieving, but I overdid it. Managing my wellbeing was simply a slippery slope of bad compromises, stop-gap measures and ineffective hacks. Of course, it cumulated in the emergence of some chronic medical conditions. But finally, after more than a year of trying hard, I feel I got a better handle on my health. I learn to self-care and give myself permission to take it easier (which is a net positive actually). I went from vegan in the beginning of the decade, to omnivore, to junk food happy, then keto now. My body weight came full circle this year, losing all the weight I gained during the decade. Wellbeing-wise, not 100% yet, but I definitely felt it turned a corner. Feeling optimistic for the next decade, as I head towards the next big milestone of fifty. So while this is a negative, it spurred a series of changes which ended up as a net positive, I believe. At least in a tiny yet significant way.

Tech got immersive, but also worrying

The past 10 years had been the decade of the smartphone. Tech got really immersive and fun, but also addictive and exhausting. I’m happy to have started to buy and own many tech toys and devices - smartphones, tablets, drones, gimbals, apps, laptops. But it’s really a Pandora’s Box. A great many uses and magical things I had done with all these tech, but also at the expense of my sleep, presence and mental health. I feel like the last decade had been one massive experiment of computer augmentation in human life, down to the hyper-personal. And it’s only going to get bigger (for better AND worse). I’m not sure it’s a net positive at this point, from the micro-perspective of my own personal life bubble. I’m sure there are things I can do in the next decade to make it a net positive for myself, but I also wonder what might be the limits of individual efforts against the massive systemic forces at play (read: capitalism). We’ll see.