One of the items on my annual one-pager is to write more blog posts as a way of clarifying thoughts. Seeing as how the previous post is literally my Quarter-Year Check-In, I think we all know how well this item is (or isn’t) progressing 😂
I’m in a good place right now. Things have been as busy as ever but there’s an excited anticipation that I haven’t felt in a long time. The water has been just as turbulent but somewhere down the river I learned how to enjoy the ride.
Learning, always learning
During the global pandemic when I was stuck indoors I spent much of the time updating my knowledge on the tech used in my field. It has continued into 2023 and I’ve made great progress on these items. There are some areas I haven’t worked on but I’m debating if it’s worth the time and effort. That said I have been champing at the bit to move onto the next thing which will hopefully have more meat on the bone. The problem is I’m not sure what that next thing is. I’ll put some feelers out for exploration’s sake but I think I’m OK with where I am now and will happily reassign resources to other areas.
I’ve been learning other stuff too. Maybe I’ll share it when I’m ready.
Surprising changes
I wanted to make some diet-related changes but wasn’t really sure what to focus on. Overall, I want to eat healthier but that’s not clear enough for me (what is “healthier”?) I knew I wanted to cook more so I started with that.
I started portioning chicken and salmon before freezing to make it convenient to just grab a box from the freezer a few hours before meal time. This has worked so well that as long as I have meat in the freezer I actually prefer cooking over eating leftovers. I’m not cooking all my meals so the take-away containers are still seeing a lot of use.
I’ve been substituting vegetables for rice. I’m Asian and I love my rice but I also want to control my intake; eating more vegetables has allowed me to do just that while getting all that veggie goodness without feeling hungry. Local leafy-greens are so cheap and cook real fast.
I’ve also started tracking (and weighing!) my food again, though not all of it — I skip the vegetables and fruits. Admittedly I get a kick out of recording nutrient content of my meals but I also want to avoid getting obsessed. My main reason for tracking is to be more aware of what I eat and how full I feel. Staying with caloric limits is a secondary goal that I’m not strongly holding myself to (though my perfectionism has me staying within this limit most of the time).
Tracking has helped me realize just how poor a lot of processed food is at satiating my appetite in particular (and I hate to say it because I love them so much) noodles. They do not fill me for very long and are very carb-heavy. Maybe it’s the way noodles are cooked in Asia where flavor comes from the sauce giving cooks an excuse to skimp on the protein (which is what really keeps me feeling full). I initially thought pasta would be equally unsatisfying but some recent testing has shown they are better at making me feel full than noodles. I wonder if it’s because pasta almost always comes with a good serving of meat.
A side-effect of these dietary changes is that my weight has been going down. That isn’t my goal at all and if anything I should be putting on weight. But since I haven’t been feeling food-deprived it means I have some wiggle room to indulge a bit more.
In exercise news, I’ve started doing more cardio. I still want to do resistance training (probably once a week and probably something full-body) but there have been a few health-related signs that are telling me I should get that heart pumping again.
What’s Missing?
Haven’t touched my script other than reading a bit of the first act. Haven’t done any creative writing at all. Other things have just been taking precedence and I’m okay with that for now.
My relationship with meditation is off-again though I have been doing a lot of Yoga Nidra which I feel is guided meditation. So maybe that counts?
Still don’t have much of a clue about this year’s theme of Triangulate.
What’s Next?
Just keep on going making minor adjustments as needed. That’s served me well in the past and I see no reason to change it.