Category: Well-being

Slice of Life Blogging

, , Slice of Life, Well-beingLeave a Comment on Slice of Life Blogging

I like this post from artist and author Austin Kleon about how today’s mundane and boring items might become interesting in the future. It’s kind of how I’ve approached my blog for a while now. There’s nothing earth-shattering or click-worthy in my slice-of-life posts, but they may be of interest in the future, specifically to my descendants that I will never know.

Several years ago, I realized that I don’t know anything about my great grandparents besides their names, and it made sad. I would love to know how they lived… even reading some of their journal pages would be super-interesting to me! So perhaps one of my descendants would enjoy reading about our lives from the early 21st century.

What you think is boring now may be interesting in the future

In the spirit of this slice-of-life mindset, here’s a little video I made of my morning routine… putting away the dishes and making coffee in the company of our cat, Anko:

I hope you have a great day!

Silent Bicycling Videos

, , , Slice of Life, Well-beingLeave a Comment on Silent Bicycling Videos
“Bicycle Video” Cedar Park, 2021

こんばんは。How’s it going?

So, since getting my GoPro, I’ve been making little annotated videos of my bicycling or riding my motorcycle. It’s really fun to do, but I’m sure it’s super-boring to watch. In fact, I don’t even watch them after I’ve uploaded them. But not only are they fun to make in Premiere Pro, but they force me to think a little bit more about what I did, and maybe I can self-reflect on things while I’m at it. I guess my blog also serves this purpose as well as just simply documenting my daily life.

So without further ado, here’s today’s video:

If more of these videos interest you, here’s a link to my YouTube channel, where you can find the “Silent Bicycling” videos, as well as my time-lapses, etc.

Lunch Break Bicycle Ride

, , , Cycling, Slice of Life, Well-beingLeave a Comment on Lunch Break Bicycle Ride
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/1900 sec, ISO200
 “Afternoon Bicycle Ride” Cedar Park, 2021

The weather was awesome today, so I decided to go on a bicycle ride on my lunch break. It was so nice to get some sun! I felt full of energy when I got back to work, just like Wall•E after recharging. 😄

I recorded my bicycle ride if you’d like to come along virtually:

I hope you had a great day! またね～

Writing by Hand

, , Slice of Life, Well-being1 Comment on Writing by Hand
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
 “Green” Cedar Park, 2021

Today’s snapshot if of my Pilot Kakuno and Iroshizuku Chiku-rin ink. I am really enjoying this combination!

For 2021 (and for the previous month) I’ve been writing and doodling in my Traveler’s Notebook. It’s a fun experience, and very different for digital note-taking and drawing for me. I think digital has many advantages over analog, but writing by hand is kind of… heartwarming? Good for the soul? A connection to reality? I can’t explain so well, but I think it adds something positive to my daily life and rounds out my well-being.

Relax and Recharge (and Thoughts About Work-Life Balance)

, Slice of Life, Well-being2 Comments on Relax and Recharge (and Thoughts About Work-Life Balance)
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Reading and Relaxing” Cedar Park, 2020

I officially have the entire week off from work, so I’m using it to relax, unwind, and play games. But I also check in with work a little bit which is fine.

In the past I would feel bad about checking my work laptop on weekends or days off, thinking that I needed a hard separation between home-life and work-life. Not just separating it with physical space or actions, but also in my thinking. For instance, if I was doing something mundane at home like taking a shower or folding laundry and a thought about work comes into my mind, I’d feel guilty, as if it was encroaching on my space. But beginning a couple of years ago, I found myself letting go of that guilt… it wasn’t really a concerted effort on my part, but I just realized that I didn’t feel bad about it anymore. And it felt great, as if a weight were lifted off my shoulders. ☺

My work involves visual design, and I find that creativity isn’t bound by the 9 to 5 workday. Some days I am just not that productive creatively, but often when I’m doing mundane things outside of work hours, I think about design challenges and formulate some solutions or things to explore when I do start my workday. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of these moments of creative insight? It’s more stressful to force myself to be creative exclusively during my work hours like I used to do. Now, thinking about work outside of work hours isn’t a negative, but a positive thing.

Letting go of that guilt has been liberating. Of course I still prioritize family at all times, but I can’t deny that work is a large part of my life, so I might as well embrace the fact that it always will take up some of my headspace and use it to my advantage.

******************

Today’s photo is of Bay, reading and relaxing in the massage chair. He’s on winter break from college and it’s been so nice to have him home!