a life update.

getting back to a routine is challenging.

I just came back from traveling in Europe for a month. The trip was wonderful, and I have so many things to say about it. Reflections. Mindsets. Anecdotes. And I will write about them all…but first I need to orient myself (and possibly you).

While I was traveling, I got out of my routine. I barely wrote, besides a few scribbles in a notebook. My job search has slowed. I didn't eat my normal amount of protein. And I haven't touched a weight in 30 days.

Now that I'm back, I feel overwhelmed, like I need to get everything done now, now, NOW. But it's at this moment when the true meaning of consistency comes in.

It is difficult to come back to Substack. Creating a coherent post feels like climbing a giant mountain that I simply cannot scale. As I stand here and stare at the slope ahead, I can’t help but slip into all-or-nothing thinking:

I should either write for four hours, or not write at all. My sentences must either be perfect, or they shouldn’t be given the right to exist. I have to get every possible thought from my trip on paper now, or I shouldn’t even bother starting one.

This mindset centers primarily in the short term. What can I get done now? I need to have everything perfect now. I want to get to the place I want to be now.

I’d like to stretch my thinking to the long term, and remind myself how things will compound.

Writing 15 minutes today will help me build my writing habit again. Creating a few bad sentences now will help me craft good ones later. Developing one idea will give me momentum to flesh out more.

You can always take your something and make it better, but it’s difficult to make something better if it doesn’t even exist.

This post isn’t perfect. It’s not even close. There’s so much left unsaid, so many thoughts gone underdeveloped. But posting this will help me get back in the long term. And that’s what I need.

There’s my update. Thanks so much for reading <3