A traffic light to keep stock

Just got home from a thereputic walk around the private estate near my block.

Ashamely, its been quite sometime since I’ve done something like this, but I’m glad that I did it. Nothing helps to clear the mind like some jazz and soul music (from Lush 99.5fm) while taking a walk in a dead quiet neighbourhood on a chilly evening.

The past few months have been quite a challenge; Having to get more involved politically as well as juggling various client projects on my freelance side of things. I have been on a rollercoaster ride and the past few months have been the equivalent of being on the downwards end of the rollercoaster track; extremely fast-paced and exhilirating.

Walking around and taking in the sight and smell around me had allowed me to slow down and reflect back on where I am currently both professionally and personally and where I would like to be in the future.

And I can’t say I have been doing to well. While most people outside would probably see me as mildly successful, being able to support my family without having to live in a 9-5 lifestyle, my work had led me to neglect both my mental and physical health. I have sacrificed exercise and relaxation just to put in more work hours to meet my income goals monthly and I’m starting to feel that payback is coming.

Reading Adrianna’s post the other day gave me a shocking reminder that I need to slow down and that work isn’t everything in life. After all, wasn’t the goal of leaving Corporate Singapore to allow me time to enjoy family, friends and my surroundings more?

The other day at our regular Singapore Ruby Brigade meetup while watching Cameron Priest’s Ember.js presentation, I had another realization that professionally I haven’t really progressed much since I started my journey. My work for the past 7 months had been all basic enterprise-type of work. Nothing exciting and nothing really innovative.

I haven’t been doing the things that I’ve said I’d be doing. All I have been developing have been basic CRUD-type of webapplications that pretty much any contractor out there would be able to whip out given the right amount of manhours.

I need to start going back to important things in life. Work on less projects and concentrate more on improving the quality of the project I’m working on. I need to start taking care of my health. Take a break every few days, walk around, do nothing or just hang out with friends. I need to stop worrying and start doing. I need to do less CRUD projects. I need to balance my political work and my personal life. I need to start looking at small tweaks to improve me and my family’s quality of life.

I need to start planning for the future. Hello 27 years old me.

Lets start cracking.