Re-connecting in 2024

For the past 2 years, I’ve been generally focused on work-related things.

Now that I’m mostly familiar with workflow and tasks needed where I work, I don’t need as long of a runway for projects as I used to.

This frees up some time and brainspace for me, which is great!

In the coming quarters of the year, I intend to start re-connecting with communities and individuals that I’ve not managed to keep in constant contact with.

It will start slow - attending events and dropping messages here and there - but I believe that it will be worth it.

Hoping to meet you soon at an upcoming event or activity!

First Week of January 2024: Short but Hectic

Had a pretty hectic 1st week of January.

Started off with a rather unusual dining etiquette workshop for Queensway Secondary on 2nd Jan, followed by an MBTI workshop for Beatty Secondary 5’s.

Re-designed the whole workshop to give them a more comprehensive and positive outlook on their future careers, as well as a lot of tips on getting a head start in their future work.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The students expressed their appreciation. I hope that they learned something useful that they will remember and can put to use soon.

Following that, 2 days at Anchor Green Primary School, teaching them motivational and study skills. I get the sense that a number of them got something out of it.

Ended the week with the final session for the Student Leaders of Bowen Secondary, who will be facilitating their school’s Secondary 1 level camp.

Can’t be sure that I’ll be there, but I happened to bump into a student that I had taught in a primary school just a couple of months ago. He had graduated and was now in Bowen Secondary. Interesting.

Just came back from Singapore Mineral Fair - the first of 2024, with a bunch of stuff. Probably needn’t have bought so much, but I did. And I’m not displeased about it.

Farewell 2023, Hello 2024! Some Thoughts on Lessons in the Past Year - Good Community

No surprises on where I was yesterday - Dec 31.

We are there every year-end to review the year that passed and think about upcoming one.

I haven’t thought about my Word of the Year yet, though I have thought about some of the lessons from experiences in 2023.

One of them is on the importance of being part of, and maintaining, good communities.

Perhaps for the worse, I haven’t been part of many good communities in a long time. Many of them always felt distant, indifferent, or self-absorbed.

Of course, I was certainly a common denominator, so maybe it was just me.

And, of course, over the years, I just decided that maintaining such relationships wasn’t worth it. Why would you want to invest time and energy into a relationship with someone who wasn’t investing anything nearly as much?

I’m not saying that everything has to be exactly 50%, right down the middle. That would be unrealistic and pretty unreasonable.

At the very least, you want to feel accepted and that people are trying to understand you, or parts of you.

You also want to want to give back. I think that this 2nd part is increasingly an important criterion for me.

Having gone through 2023 with a few good communities, I’m happy to say that I am happy to give back to these communities.

Carrying on into 2024, I will endeavour to do this.

Wishing you and yours a fruitful 2024 ahead, filled with learning, meaning, and joy. Have a great one!

Acknowledging the Gains, Working Towards Reclaiming the Losses

Now that the pandemic is slowly fading into a memory, I find myself missing a lot of its effects.

Sure, it was not an easy time for me in terms of work and finances, especially considering the nature of my work. Still, I very much enjoyed the enforced separation.

And it somehow resulted in me being where I am now. I likely won’t be here doing what I’m doing if not for the entire episode.

In numerous ways, life has improved - well, mine, at any rate.

And yet, there are certain aspects that haven’t. I’d say they have diminished or deteriorated quite a bit.

It is, perhaps, time to do something about this.

I don’t think it will be an easy path, but I’m confident that improvements can be made. I just have to take one step at a time.