pragmatic idealist

Wellness is Sunday, and a bunch of other things

This is a picture @s0delightful took back in April when she was doing design research on what wellness meant for different people. She was specifically interested in knowing what the ac4d kids thought as we transitioned from those insane 8 months to what we would like moving forward.

I have never been one that thought much of work-life balance of sort. I do what I love and I love what I do (@justinpetro). When you feel your work life is a part of your life work, you care so much that you simply can't stop (@bobulate). But going away for a couple weeks then trying to get back into things, plus adjusting to life without Christina around, plus getting emails from 2nd year ac4d students asking about workload, got me thinking about this a little more.

• On Sundays. The picture above was me trying to describe what wellness meant to me in one sentence. I listed a bunch of stuff, like spending time with friends, eating well, and having mental space to grow. Then @s0delightful said, "Is it Sunday?" Well, yes, of course wellness is Sunday. Some people recharge best by taking weeknights off. I prefer working long hours during the week and having Sundays off. Mini-vacations. 
• On reading fiction. I have never read much fictions in my life. Some of it has to do with being in science and business at university. It wasn't until I came to Austin that I started to develop a fascination about made-up stories, dreams, and imaginations. My past life was caught up in understanding what already exists, and I would like my future life to get caught up in dreaming what could exist. This summer I am going to read novels and trade books with @chapambrose.
• On a city that inspires. I love to travel because it inspires me. Seeing different people doing different things bring so much woo's and ahh's into my life. The awesomest thing about Austin is that it gives me that feeling all the time. There are so many amazing people doing amazing things in this city of weirdness, yet they're humble, genuine, and friendly. Because living in this city inspires me, getting on a plane now feels like a chore.  
• On keeping in touch. A lot of my really good friends are scattered around the world, and it makes me sad when I can't be there physically for those important moments of their lives. In the last two weeks, I was able to write and speak to a lot of them. Keeping in touch with people you love is important. They believe in you, and they keep you grounded. 
• On waking up early. The jetlag from my trip to Hong Kong became a perfect opportunity for me to transition to a morning schedule. Instead of a 9am-2am, I'd like a 6am-10pm. Starting the day with writing for a couple hours before heading into the office is awesome. But forcing myself to head to bed before midnight has also been really challenging. 
• On physical motion. It seems as though I've always paid more attention to my mental wellness more than my physical wellness. But lately I finally feel for the first time the correlation between the two for myself. Some mornings I wake up feeling really anxious. And I've found that the bike ride to work really helps with easing that anxiousness and by the time I get into the office I am in a much better mood. Those physical motions do some magic. 
• On climbing. I went climbing outdoor for the first time last weekend. I've always loved it even in the indoors, but climbing on real rocks is amazingly incredible. I just love it; both the physical and the mental aspect of it. This summer I want to go every weekend and learn the techniques with the help of @ryanhubbard.
• On playing music. I've been saying I want to get back into piano for a really long time now. But it's not very motivating practicing on my own. In fact, I haven't even taken it back out of the box ever since I moved to Christina's. Maybe I should take lessons. I know I should do it. My heart melts everytime I hear someone plays it. 
• On having pets. @jkolko got me thinking about adopting kittens the other day, which ended up as long conversations with a few others about thoughts on having pets, and how they make their ways into your lives, and how your lives start to change because of them. The more I think about it, the more I'm into it. This will be a January 2012 thing, and I'm really looking forward to it. 
• On expressing gratitude. I blogged about starting a Kickstarter fund back in March. This week I finally got around to look at my past spendings and budgeted to put 10% of my income to fund projects every month. I have a few people reached out to me since then and mentioned that they liked the idea. @chapambrose calls it a "tithe", and @renjie calls it "paying inspiration forward". Either way, it's my way to express gratitude, in a pragmatic and idealistic way at the same time.

The research take-away was: wellness is different for everyone. My take-away was: it's one of those things where you put a little more thought into it and the benefit you get from it is so worthwhile.