December is always a great time to unwind a little bit, take stock of the year, celebrate the wins, rest up and set priorities for the upcoming year ahead.
So this is a great time to look back on 2019, across various aspects of my life, as I sit at a starbucks, blogging with their free wifi. Cliché , I know. More on that later.
Parenthood
On the parenting front, we’ve always kinda felt each stage proved more difficult than the last, but with the boys turning 5 and (almost) 3 respectively, we’re starting to feel a tide change (for now). Oli was now a lot more capable of guiding and teaching Jubes, and even many a time helped us out, just as we were running out of patience.
Since our last helper left in early November (another story for another time), we’ve been helperless, and we were suddenly plunged into a sink or swim situation. I have to say I’m glad we are currently in a.. let’s say, threading water comfortably situation.
We’ve also dubbed ourselves the “Self-Help Family”, in a bid to better survive the time until our new helper arrives. This was also the time where Oli stepped up tremendously, helping around the house, helping look after his little brother, and being an all-round trooper.
Family
Oli goes to Kindergarten 2 next year, and will be his last year of “casual” schooling before actual school curriculum begins at Primary 1. We figure it’s also one of the last few opportunities to have extended holidays outside of the usual June/Dec peak holidays parents have to endure.
As such, the wife and I have begun planning an extended holiday (1 month?) for 2020, to spend more quality time together. Plus we’ve never had a vacation this long! It will be fun.
Blogging
I’m not new to blogging, and keep my personal blog at vinyarb. But I’ve never been a very disciplined blogger, and since starting SideHustleRich over the past year, I’ve been writing a lot more frequently and regularly, and that makes me pleased.
I’ve always enjoyed writing, and this regularity is bringing some sense of stability in a world filled with anything but.
I hope to continue at this cadence, and hopefully translate some of that to my personal blog as well.
Side Hustles
Focusing on, and writing about my side hustles (focus for this year being CFD trading) has been a really great experience, and I hope to scale this both vertically and horizontally, ie, to create a deeper stream of income from trading, and develop new streams of income.
Adsense has been averaging $20 per month for the last 2 months… so, let’s see how that goes.
Being 40
I turned 40 last week. And it made me do something crazy. No, I didn’t go out and buy a boat, but for a forty year old dude with 2 kids to feed, it was pretty dang close.
Career
I left my job after 3 months.
Yes, you read that right. Those of you who’s been here a while will know I recently had a new job, starting in September. Long story short, the culture was one of (to quote a team mate and dear friend) fear, of knee jerk reactions, of focusing on short term goals, and of valuing hours clocked vs output achieved.
So I left.
Which brings us to the here and now. A jobless dude blogging in the middle of Starbucks because free wi-fi. =)
But I’m really happy and grateful for a (hopefully) short timeout in December to rest and recalibrate.
Here’s to a better and more fulfilling 2020!