edition 5.
I started running a couple of weeks ago and have slowly built up to running my first 5k. I’ve wanted to run for a while (2 years now?), but never prioritized it during grad school, choosing to focus on strength training instead. Now, I live near a beautiful trail by the river. It would have been almost foolish not to take advantage of the location and actualize my desire to run.
Running is one of the most popular forms of exercise, and a topic people seem to be enthusiastic to discuss. It’s always nice to be able to talk to someone who has been running for much longer than I have about pacing and breathing. It’s been even better to be able to plan runs with others as an activity. I’m rediscovering how much fun it is partaking in your interests and hobbies with others, and I find myself running much farther than I would when I run alone.
I can only imagine that this effect is multiplied the more interests and hobbies you actively pursue given you are passionate about these areas. It’s a recurring theme I’ve been reading about and reminding myself of constantly: doing more of the things that interest you and sharing those interests is a gateway into new communities and conversation. Being able to demonstrate shared interests and hobbies has been a great way to connect with strangers, beyond being in the same industry/school/city.
I’ve also found that tracking my adventures across disciplines has helped enhance conversation. I can readily share what I’ve been working towards, the approach I’ve been taking, and resources that have been helping me along the way. It’s one of the reasons I highly recommend some form of digital note-taking to keep track of your reading, maintain a log of your runs/workouts, store a list of recipes you’ve come up with, or keep a journal of learnings you’ve encompassed.
reading:
I’ll be re-reading Psychology of Money with the fam this month. Excited to pick this one up again! I read it for the first time a couple of years ago and learned a lot about what shapes our attitude towards money.
learning:
I learned how to use Figma this week!
I’ve been wanting to learn Figma for a while now but hadn’t really started any projects that would require it - I’m now using it to create wireframes for my personal website which I hope to either code from scratch or build using Framer.
making:
I’ve been working on building my personal website. I currently have an existing website that I built using a template on Wix, but I’ve been itching to design and build a new one from scratch. It’s been incredibly fun so far experimenting with different layouts, colors and fonts on Figma. It’s definitely a longer project, and will likely take a few months to complete with a busy August ahead, but I’m excited to be stretching my software muscles again after a 4-year hiatus.