Sunil Shenoy

I want to return to this post occasionally, so this post is a self-reminder post.

Not all days are the same.
Some days are good.
Some days could be better.
Some days you meet a lot of people.
Some days, you spend a lot of time just being alone.
Not all days are the same.

You want to travel, meet people, have good food and enjoy that road trip
Today is not that day, neither is that day tomorrow, but someday, the above will come true
Not all days are the same.
Today, you can sit down, plan and dream about your travel adventures,
Tomorrow, all these dreams will come true.
Not all days are the same.

You sit here overthinking things.
It would have helped if you had said yes to that invite to travelling and meeting friends, but you did not.
You should have asked that girl out or told her how you feel about her, but your overthinking brain told you not to
Tomorrow, maybe you will say yes to that invite, to travelling, meeting friends and asking that girl out. Today was not the day; don’t be hard on yourself.
Not all days are the same.

Being alive is a blessing:
walking around, being healthy, being able to sip that good coffee, eating that cake, being able to dance to a tune.
Enjoying these moments is important,
Somedays, all you want to do is be in bed, not do anything; on these days, I hope you read this and remind yourself.
Not all days are the same.

It rarely goes away. Even after working in the industry for more than thirteen years, every time you try out something new and stumble, the feeling is back again.

You might have worked on building complex systems, bought in a lot of revenue, worked with a few companies and have proven yourself by learning existing systems and improving them, something new which gets you a bit stuck, you think of yourself as an imposter. Someone who is getting by because you have been lucky and have not been caught as yet.

I had the feeling two weeks ago, even for most of last week. However, getting across the finish line and marking the task as done made me feel good. I no longer thought of myself as an imposter. A considerable weight lifted off my shoulder, the feeling that I belonged and knew what I was doing.

It’s good to recognise these feelings. Make a note of these and know how to recognise them when it does come back again. Cause it will when you try something new in the future.

You can plan all you want. You can fill out excel sheets or any other accounting software to budget your finances, but nothing can prepare you for when you finally decide to take action. The motivation to do that has to be strong and something you can no longer ignore. After you commit and take that call, your days/months/years are on the line, along with your planning around finances. Of course, others will be around to support you, but it’s your journey from now on.

There can always be more money in the bank. The date to commit to the decision can permanently be moved. One more week will not hurt. One more month will not hurt, but the longer you delay it, the more the thought stays in your mind and leaves you not at peace.

You are not doing justice to your current work if all you want to do is scratch that itch and would spend the days and weeks doing something else.

Are you ready, though, to commit and start the journey? Is today the day you decide to scratch that itch?

Wow! The counter does tick at a faster pace after thirty. I was going through my Timehop memories two days ago, and it reminded me of my trip to New Zealand six years ago to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. I remember crying on my thirtieth birthday. Coming to terms with growing older was not something I was ready to accept back then but is indeed a blessing, I realise now.

A year full of learnings.

If I were to give this year a theme, it would be this. Twenty twenty-one has been a great teacher, and even in the last few days of the year, it continues to share its wisdom with me, for that I would be forever grateful.

2020 was all about COVID-19, and part of twenty twenty-one was also spent dealing with the after-effects of the virus. This year was much better than the last one though, cafes were open and so were the gyms and swimming pool. New South Wales was in lockdown for about four months. Not leaving the 5 km radius boundary set by the government got the mind overthinking almost everything.

The lockdown also got me to change quite a lot. From being rarely at home on most days to now being home all the time. From a difficult first few days to slowly adapting to the new way of living. There was no choice, but there was light at the end of the tunnel this time. To all the people who directly and indirectly worked on the vaccine. Thank you and a big hug 🤗

Goals I had set for 2021

I had a 33% success ratio for my goals for 2021. The only two that I succeeded at were being in touch with family and friends, and thanks to the lockdown, I also managed to write more often here.

All other goals for 2021 took a backseat, partly due to the lockdown and partly due to the mind not being motivated enough to do any of these things as an effect of the lockdown.

Personal

Writing more often here and exercising more often has to be the overall theme for this year. I did get into the best shape of my life, thanks to spending a lot of time at the gym and watching what I eat.

I don’t remember much of what happened from January to April, but I remember going to two gyms regularly and being too tired to do anything at the end of the day.

I recently ticked the “live closer to the beach” goal off my bucket list. It’s only been five weeks living here, and I have been enjoying the stay so far. It has been great waking up to the sound of waves crashing.

I am looking forward to regular swims in the ocean and more time lying on the beach, doing nothing in the following year. Unfortunately, I have forgotten how to do nothing.

The lockdown made me also realise how much I enjoy random conversations with people. So much so that I enrolled in driving with Uber and completed the required documentation. I am yet to start a trip, though. Something I aim to start from Feb next year.

As I write this, I am also looking forward to my trip to India in five days and meeting family and friends after two and half years.

Work

I had a great time working at ELMO Software this year. From working full remote for four months due to lockdown to being back in the office for a few days in a week after the lockdown was over, I realised I prefer the office/home mix rather than being fully remote.

I still enjoy working with the team and all the conversations. However, I tried my hand at being a scrum master this year and realised that being a scrum master is not something I particularly enjoy. Due to not enjoying the role, I did not do my best, compared to how much I enjoy building software.

I still enjoy maintaining software. I thought I would miss building new things, but maintaining software used by many people still gives me immense joy.

I read this tweet a few days ago and could not agree more. “Everybody is hiring Software Developers, nobody is hiring Software Maintainers. You know, just an observation“

Things I want to get better at in 2022

• Swift
• Terraform
• Cypress.
• PHPUnit
• Jest
• Rails
• React

Travel

This year again it’s been easy, filling out the travel part of the post, from a few hours to spending a few minutes going through Google Maps. Thanks again to COVID-19.

Places visited this year:

• New Zealand ( Wellington and Auckland )
• Coffs Harbour
• Nelson Bay
• Jervis Bay

Goals for 2022

• Start to learn Hip Hop or Salsa or some other dance routine. It has been a long term goal of learning how to dance—2022 is the year.
• Learn and get better at surfing 🏄🏻‍♂️
• Continue with early morning ocean swims.
• Spend more time exploring neighbouring pubs.
• Get better at beach volleyball.
• Build and maintain at least two apps on iOS and Mac OS. Side projects 2022.

I hope you all have an excellent 2022. 🙌🏻🤗