2024 Week 29: A Mid-Year Summary

July 21, 2024

2024 Week 29: A Mid-Year Summary

Don't want this to turn into a full-on reflections post but there are a few threads in my life that need to be tied together.

1. Therapy: My counsellor, who has helped me tremendously in moving on and forward (setting myself free from the old framework of accomplishment as the pre-requisite of love!), is going back to school so we are not able to continue our relationship. We did some wrapping up and she will hand me over to another social worker in a couple of weeks. I'm grateful for her guidance.

2. Pets Hideout/SUTD study: Did my 3rd session with Nadia from SUTD to work on income diversification. We went from general psychological backgrounding to practical next-steps for working on and levelling up Pets Hideout. In the latest meeting we did a lot of brainstorming and then pruning to come up with an action plan. I find the reflection/action combination motivating. However, need to fight the temptation to go into lean startup girlboss mode because of emotional baggage (see point 1).

3. Beyond books: The unexpected outcome of Beyond internship is that I'm now helping Gerard with a couple of book projects. One is a physical book with Braema Mathi as editor and the other is a series of e-books. So far I am enjoying both and there's a particular satisfaction I get out of applying 3 different kinds of work experiences (social svcs + writing/editing + bookselling!).

4. Meeting people: Jon and I have been going to meetups and similar meet-new-people events and it's going pretty well. I actually enjoyed myself a lot at the Couchsurfing meetup on Friday and I think he'll come along for the next.

5. Ethical non-monogamy or ENM: Point 4 is highly correlated to the conversations we are having about being in an open relationship, because part of what makes meeting people enjoyable is of course flirtation/attention/possibilities. I have not formed coherent thoughts on the topic but on the theoretical level an ENM relationship appeals to me much more than a traditional monogamous one. So far nothing has "happened" but the overall new mode appears to be bringing us closer rather than apart. Interesting. We'll see.

6. Yoga: I forgot to update that I have finally committed to a one-year unlimited yoga membership at Jal Yoga. I have wanted this for years but never felt I deserved one while I didn't have a "proper job". I kinda took a chance on this studio after 2 trial classes, and so far, I have been really impressed by the quality of instruction!

7. Routines (WIP): With the end of my internship and beginning of new commitments (Pets Hideout, books, and yoga) I have to come up with a new routine - and outfits that work for my new day-to-day.

Oh and also I'm now 38!

I've grown in a positive direction since last year's birthday. In that (turning 37) blog post I was clearly trying to convince myself that I was happy haha. I had been "holding myself lightly and apart" (from life/the world) until this year really.

Now I'm plunged back into things again and there is a level of vulnerability (me trying things that might completely fail) I'm not used it. The vulnerability has caused me pain for sure, but on the other hand I feel a lot more alive now compared to a year ago.