Late, as usual, but whatever. This is more catharsis for myself than anything else. Plus I’ve been hella busy so bleh. So far, I’ve been very happy with this year. It feels oddly familiar to 2007. 2007 was an epic year for me, and from 2007-2009 is when I experienced the most growth as a person and racked up a ton of life experiences. This year, 11 years later, so far feels a lot like 2007 in so many ways. It feels like I’m on the cusp of some more big lessons, wins, and life experiences.

In my 2017 year-end review, I wrote:

Next year looks to be business as usual in a lot of ways, but there will also be exciting opportunities available. I think it will be a hard but rewarding year. And if it’s a good year like this one I’ll gladly accept it. I’m excited to see what happens.

I’d say that’s largely true. Business as usual. Lots of hard work. But rewarding work. And the results are showing. For example, I rehired my swimming coach like I said I was going to do, and she’s been fantastic. I feel so much more comfortable in the pool, and panic far less now. I’d say I’m now a slightly-below-average swimmer at this point. I know that doesn’t sound amazing, but for my entire life I was so mortified at even the thought of putting my feet into the water that this is a huge achievement for me that I’m really happy with.

I’ve also hired a Spanish tutor, and after 5 months with him I can have so-so conversations and can express my ideas in Spanish that he’s able to understand. It’s definitely not fluency by any means, but he’s ecstatic with my progress and I’m somewhat satisfied. I really want to be fluent at the end of the year, which is quickly approaching, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll happen. That seems to be the norm for me. I just seem to have to work harder than everybody else to get mediocre results. When I read stories of people who get fluent in a language in 3 months or get down to 7% body fat after a 3-month cut I always get envious. I’ll do my absolute bestest to follow the exact step-by-step plan and I simply just don’t get the same results. But then I look back at how far I’ve come and remind myself that it isn’t a race and that the only person I should compare myself to is my former self.

Physically I feel fantastic. I’m in the best shape of my life, for sure. Training has gone exceptionally well and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve got some naggy elbows for the past month but they’re feeling much better now, and I didn’t have to slow down my training, progress, or volume. I couldn’t ask for more in this regard, to be honest.

I did end up going to India for a month in January, and I loved it. I went with one of my besties who hasn’t really traveled much and it was quite obvious he wasn’t having a good time. So we were both glad when he left and I continued on my own, then met up with some of my other besties. India is a challenging country in so many ways and yet it all felt so normal to me. Travel isn’t always comfortable, in fact, I’d argue that a lot of travel isn’t, and yet on the other side of that discomfort is so much win. With that said, I’m going to do some wandering for a while and work remotely in different countries. It’s time. I’m not getting any younger and this is something I’ve always wanted to do ever since I read about it in the 4-hour workweek way back in 2007. I have so many excuses in my head as to why I shouldn’t go, and only a few reasons for why I should. But fuck it, sometimes you just gotta stop listening to your head and listen to your heart. First stop, Asia! Stay tuned…