//xerode

Turning 2^5

August 1st, 2014 | xerode

The very best thing anybody has ever said to me is that I “…could do anything [I] wanted to and be good at it”. But you can only be good at something if you try.

Last week I turned 32.

I realised that I’ve really not been trying. These past few years, life has been pretty interesting. Interesting in the “may you live in interesting times” sense. Moving house share, switching job, tumultuous relationships and various other obstacles have all got in the way of the life I’m looking to lead.

Since the start of 2014 the storms have cleared and conditions have calmed down a little. Life’s still no plain sailing but it’s meant I’ve had the time and space to look at where I am and more importantly, where I want to be. A large part of that is to get back to being creative and trying to be good at it.

To try and stave off my no-doubt inevitable mid-life crisis, I’ve decided to set myself some goals. Like New Year’s Resolutions but starting on my new year – my birthday. This is no Five Year Plan or Great Leap Forward, it’s more trying to give myself some direction, broken down into smaller steps that will hopefully mean I feel more fulfilled in a year or two.

Continuing to work on my physical health through exercise. I ran the Hackney 5K in June and surprised myself by crossing the line in 21 minutes, landing myself somewhere in the top 30 participants. Over the next year I’d like to take that to a 10K and try the Hackney Half Marathon. I’d also like to eat healthier again, after a summer of laziness due to that awesome 5K time.

Continuing to work on my mental health, trying this whole mindfulness thing and fitting meditation into the daily routine I’ve been slowly forming.

Spend less time gaming or idly flicking through forums and social media, so that I have the time to achieve…

CREATIVITY! I want to get back into doing creative coding projects in my spare time, like I used to when I was a Flash developer. I want to draw again and maybe give music production one last chance. My aim is to be more of a creator than a consumer.

This blog is my attempt to document these changes and goals,so I reappraise the situation every so often and stay focused – as well as encouraging me to write more than just short tweets or the odd post on Facebook. I don’t intend for every post to be navel-gazing but I am going to try and steer clear of the sort of political rants I’m famous for amongst my friends.