High Altitude Reflections

It’s been a few months since my last update, and what a whirl it has been! I’m currently writing this from the comfort of my cramped economy seat, on one of the longest commercial flights in the world, San Francisco to Melbourne, flying over the island of Nouméa. There’s a funny quote I remember hearing, ‘all atheists are atheists until they’re on a plane and turbulence hits’, but in any case, a quiet cabin, being removed from the world (even with the free WiFi), dangling miles up in the air, and the occasional turbulence, all seem to at least be good ingredients for reflection.

I came into 2023 with a commitment to pushing myself outside of my comfort zones, further than I ever have. I wasn’t sure how that was practically going to happen, but that was the goal. So how has that panned out?

Well for starters, I finished the Couch to 5K challenge that I began at the end of 2022. While doing so, I invested in an Apple Watch so that I could track my steps, runs, and overall fitness with greater accuracy. In the process, the last three months, I have averaged ~10k steps each day, smashed my move and exercise goals, and felt encouraged to push harder than ever. At the gym, I began socialising a lot more with other gymgoers, shifting up the workout routine I had become accustomed to. In particular, I focused a lot on pull-ups, with various different grips. A few weeks ago, I would struggle to do 3 sets of 10 pullups once a week. Now, I’m doing close to 100 most days, with a variety of different grips, all because I had some great help and encouragement from some of the gym friends I’d made (shout outs to Junior and Givoni). Between the running and workouts, I look and feel like I’m in the best physical shape I’ve been in for awhile. This reminded me of some of the tips I read in ‘You’re Invited’ by Jon Levy, where the success of many programs, be it F45 or Alcoholics Anonymous, is a sense of comraderie and shared goals. Turning the gym into more than just an iron jungle has made it a more engaging and fulfilling experience, outside of just getting a pump.

How about other avenues? I set myself a goal to read a book a week, and in the first few weeks I finished reading books such as ‘Can’t Hurt Me’ by David Goggins, ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Gene Kim, and ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. My most recent book is one that has taken considerably more time for me to work though, ‘The Body Keeps The Score’ by Bessel van der Kolk. I’ve found this to be a thought-provoking but also intimidating read, and so I find myself only reading a few pages at most each day. So not exactly keeping to a book a week anymore, but in any case, I am more of a quality over quantity type of person anyway, and I’m glad that my Kindle is actually getting some usage. The tip that has worked most for me? Bring your book with you everywhere, as much as possible. I read on the train, bus, elevator, while waiting in line, essentially anywhere I can get some idle time, and once I start reading, it’s much easier to continue.

In other news, I spent the last ~3 months teaching 5th Grade English in a Hasidic Jewish school in Williamsburg! I have 4 classes, and close to 80 students in total, working in what has definitely been one of the most bizarre career decisions of my life. And you know what? I’ve been absolutely loving it, much more than I could’ve expected. So much so, that I’ve recently been reconsidering whether I want to give more attention to my passion for psychology. For the longest time, I only imagined myself working in the industrial (I/O) psychology field, as the idea of counselling and clinical work has always been an area I’ve always found interesting, but also daunting. What I’ve learnt from working the past few months with these kids, is that no day is the same, no class is the same, and that the very nature of working with people is that things are always dynamic. It’s all given me something to consider.

Well, I’m now about two hours out from landing in Australia! I’m excited to spend time with friends and family these next few weeks, I haven’t seen a ‘normal’ Melbourne since pre-COVID times, so I’m sure things will be interesting. It’s hard to imagine that we’re already 1/4 the way through the year, nevertheless I’m glad that it’s managed to be productive and fruitful. Carpe Diem, onwards and upwards (well in this case, I want the plane to go downwards 😝).