I forget that health is the most important thing until I’m in pain. This morning, I woke up with excruciating back pain and I was reminded that, I better take care of my body, because I only have one.

I should stretch.

I should exercise.

I should move around.

I should take my vitamins.

All these should’s that I conveniently forget until I’m in pain. And maybe that’s why people say you need to experience pain to grow. Without these bodily pains, I’ll forget that I’m a mere mortal with an aging body.

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I used to try really hard to separate work and personal lives and always felt guilty or bad when I had to step out for a personal errand, like going to the doctors or a bank run, etc.

However, that changed that this year. I think partly seeing some of my coworkers do random shit at work, but also because I’ve realized that it’s almost impossible to get some shit done outside of work hours.

And this year, dealing with health issues and going to the doctor almost every other day made me realize that health is and should always be my highest priority.

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As I’m trying my best to be zen from my vacation, I’m trying to think of the positives of my job. Below is a list of things that I’m thankful for.

• Working so close to Battery Park city so that I can eat outside when the weather’s nice out. I’ve indulged in eating out at least three times this year while sitting down formally, and even at the park with my chicken salad. Just being outside for a little bit and seeing nature made me feel more peaceful.
• Living five minutes from the office. I don’t have to deal with the ever increasing homeless population on the subway or the stuffy hot sauna air on the platforms. I can wake up later around 8:30 and still have time to enjoy my morning routine — have a full cup of coffee and oatmeal breakfast while watching YouTube — and still get to work relatively early or on time. Plus it’s great to be able to step out of the office to to accept any type of deliveries and then go back to work. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I was able to receive and exchange a dining room chair within 30 min!
• Having my doctor so close to the office and home. This is another huge blessing for me. I can step out of my office to go see the doctor without worrying that it’ll be a huge time suck. As a result, I’ve been good about going to get my physicals, check-ups, follow-ups, teeth cleaned, etc.
• Working at a company with very flexible working environment — I can work from home if I’m not feeling well or have a lot of things going on and need to focus at home.
• Managing a team of analysts who I can delegate work to — this is a huge change from last year where I had to reply to every single email and/or review everything that went out the door. Now the team is somewhat trained to know what I look for, and honestly, I just don’t care as much to go crazy over it.
• Having a positive reputation among coworkers so that I don’t have to work as hard.

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My August horoscope rocks!

Leo season will bring you fulfillment and delight that could be paralleled only by the acquisition of more plentiful dim sum rations than you ever even thought possible. The celestial bodies, particularly your ruling planet Jupiter with its saucy intersection with Venus, are conspiring to bring serendipitous abundance and adventure into your life. In the latter half of the month this will spill over into your creative and professional life, so keep an eye out for opportunities to get out of town.

I’m super excited to see what will happen this month and hope that all of this holds true.

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A tip resonated with me while listening hidden brain podcast. The gist of it was, when you receive an invite for an event that will happen in the future, evaluate it as if it were happening tomorrow.

What a smart and great tip! I’m not going to have less things to do in the future and tomorrow is a good benchmark to understand how busy I’ll be.

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Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash