Life update: Screw September, October is where it’s at

My roommate said that to me when I moaned about how I had not published any blog posts in the last month. I like how they find ways to cheer me up, even if it’s at the expense of September. It’s officially the end of the Q3 (insert party emoji here) and in this post, I’d like to review the goals I set for this quarter at the beginning of July, take a step back to evaluate the entirety of 2021, and bombard you with (massive!) life updates.

Q3 evaluation

I’ve had to crank out the bullet journal M gifted me last Christmas and flip back to early July for this, but there is something moving about making out the scribbles of a past you, an ambitious version of yourself that hopes it does not seem overzealous to the future version of self reading.

1. Earn $1000/ month

2. Consumption - To read, learn, and listen to podcasts more. I’ve read one book to its entirety, almost finished an autobiography of an F1 driver, and got to two thirds of Moby Dick. Plus, what my current client requires of me (editing lengthy audio transcripts, and distilling whatever useful information I can from a triple board certified geriatric, internal, and palliative medicine specialist that graduated from Stanford University, I think I can safely say that I’ve been consuming seriously quality content this quarter.)

3. Blog weekly - Well we all know how this went, but look at me on a 2x streak!

2021 in its entirety

All I seem to remember doing for the first quarter and a half of the year was flout MCO protocol to keep going on Tinder dates, write health blog posts at my minimum wage internship (yes, that is how I choose to refer to it), enjoy using Canva premium a little bit more than necessary, and avoid getting bitten by mosquitos on my parent’s porch while birdwatching. But I came out of that spell quite victorious. There were points at which I wanted to make a “Goals List”, but starting that halfway into the year just felt wrong. Something to consider starting 2022 with. In the meantime, let’s look at how 2021 went.

1. I eventually left the internship to pursue freelance writing full-time again, I decided to make setting up this website a priority, and I fell back in love with my life, doing things I enjoyed, like reading literature classics, being physically active, and writing. There is so much writing this year!
2. Every birthday, I reflect on the important pillars in my life, but given that I will likely be too busy to do this next month (you’ll find out why soon enough), I’ll do it now. The pillars are: personal growth, career, relationships, mental and physical health. The only thing I could have done better is more muscle strengthening workouts, but other than that, this year is solid progress in the direction I want to be headed. Plus, I think I can add a financial pillar now too.
3. If 2020’s goal was to support myself financially by writing, then 2021’s goal would be to proudly say that the phrase “job security” means little to me now. I’ve spent time honing skills that are useful to others, and learning to be resourceful is probably a smarter bet to make in these times than relying on something as arbitrary as “job security” for a sense of well, actual security.

Life updates

1. I got the job. As in, my housemanship placement. In a couple weeks, I will go from being a full-time freelance writer to a full-time house officer, or junior doctor. For privacy reasons, I will refrain from disclosing my location, but here’s a hint…
2. I’m moving. The last month was a flurry of paperwork and apartment hunting, and the chaos will likely continue for the next weeks while I set up my new home.
3. Yes, the combination of starting a new job and moving is totally enough to excuse my silence in the last month, and if you think that that’s what you can expect of me moving forward: you’re wrong! Because a new post will be up every week, and... I’ve started a YouTube channel. Why?

Exciting times, eh? As for Q4 goals, I'll leave another big reveal for next week, but in the meantime, thank you for being here. I’d like to leave you with a quote that speaks to me the way I hope this blog will one day speak to aspiring anyones that abhor certain constraining conventions of society;

“To Hermione Jean Granger I leave my copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in the hope that she find it entertaining and instructive.”