The Wanderer

Waking up in a new year is always a disorienting experience. When I was in grade school I would write last year’s date on my homework for weeks into the new year. January, outside of being the month I was born, never felt too different from December. The weather would bite through my jacket the same way it did just a few days ago, the snow from last year would still be soft on the ground, and the lessons I was learning in school would show up again now, just with a different year for the date on the top of the looseleaf.

But as I’ve grown older, especially since joining the workforce, I’ve found comfort in the new year. The cliche of “new year new me” begins to take on new meaning in your 20s, as every year is drastically different from the last. Just a few short years ago I was in college, and the new year meant the dawn of a new semester, new classes, but the same friends and the same mindset: To have as much fun as possible all while prioritizing my education. Last year still felt like college. Even after graduating and starting work, the mindset was still the same. My main priority over the past 15 months has been to have fun, spend time with my friends, and enjoy this newfound freedom.

But now, as I enter 2024, and as my 24th birthday soon approaches, I can feel my mindset changing. I still want to have fun, I still want to keep cultivating my friendships and relationships, and I still want to do well in work, but now my main priority is me.

This year I’m focusing on my own development, which can manifest in many different ways, whether that means through work, or the gym, or through my friends. I think prioritizing myself and my own health is going to be the main throughpoint of this year and generally the next stage of my life.

In work, I’m shooting for promotions, which in my line of work entails traveling, networking, and developing my technical skills. I was doing this last year, but my priority was making money and staying employed, but now I’m thinking through the lens of becoming a better employee and building my own skills so I can move more freely through the workforce. Working in corporate America is difficult for many reasons, but one of the most difficult aspects of this job is how replaceable I am. Many people can do my job, and many are trying to take it, so in order to keep my job I need to do everything perfectly. This line of thinking can be toxic in the long run, so changing my mindset to a more personal approach will help. This company can work for me, I can use it to travel the world, meet new people, and learn the ins and outs of the industry. Through this process, I’ll get better at my job and move up the ranks, but now I’ll do this for me.

For the gym, I am continuing my goals I set in 2023. The marathon is about 10 months away and the preparation for that will be difficult, but consistency will be the main point of this. Due to that, I am starting 75 hard again, today being the first day of that journey. This time around only 2 rules are mandatory: work out twice a day for 45 minutes, and write something new every day. The reason for this is that I want these two aspects of my life to take priority. Working out twice a day will give me more structure in my life, allowing me to prioritize my own health over everything else. I’ll be documenting my progress throughout on this front over the course of the year, picking one day a week to bring you into my life and show you what I’m building. I am by no means a body builder, so don’t expect to be impressed by heavy lifting or anything, but hopefully this will show a natural, realistic progress that my viewers can follow along with.

Lastly, I want to prioritize writing. Last year I made big steps forward by publishing my first book and starting this blog. This year I want to continue to grow the blog and keep publishing more novels. I have a few in the works, which I will also document here. But this blog isn’t for fame or money, its for me to show the world what I’m thinking. Even if no one reads this blog, in my mind I’ve found success by putting it out there. And that’s the big change for me. Success is not defined by the promotions I get or the number views or how big my muscles get, its defined by me showing up every day and knowing I’m giving the world my all.

So now that that’s all done, let me start this year by walking you through my day, The 2nd day of the year and the first day of the rest of my life.

I woke up this morning tired from the night before, my vision still blurry from the new year’s eve celebrations a few days prior. After checking my phone for messages lost to sleep, I get up, make my bed, and begin my first workout of the day. I love doing yoga in the morning. I’m not very good at it just yet as years of weight training has made my muscles stiffer than they should be, but this habit is something I’ve been building over the past few months. Today I watched a 25 minute youtube video from YogaWithAdriene. She makes great beginner friendly yoga videos centered around mindfulness and meditation. I think back to my ancestors who invented the art of yoga and meditation thousands of years ago, and pay my respects by continuing their legacy in my own way. After the video was done I spend a few more minutes centering myself and planning my day in my head, thinking about the assignments I need to finish up and what I should make for breakfast. I ended up making eggs with cottage cheese, my breakfast of champions, before settling in at my desk to start the work day. As people are coming off of the holiday season, corporate is still waking up, so work is slow, and after a few hours of meetings and assignments, I finish up for the day and head to the gym.

Today was back day. I ran 1.5 miles yesterday and am still a little sore from my injury, so I’m taking the workout slow. After a quick walk through the brisk Chicago winter I enter the gym and begin stretching. My roommate came with me for the workout, and it was his first time coming back to the gym in a while so we took it slow and steady. We started with the lat pulldown, keeping the weight relatively light as it was our first workout, then progressively building up the weight until we could get about 6 good reps. We kept this format for the rest of the workout, doing rows, upper deltoids, and then ending with arms. The full workout is below. Overall I felt strong this workout and throughout the whole day I found myself filled with energy and passion, ready for the new year and all that comes with it. After the workout my roommate and I made ground turkey keema, an Indian ground meat dish heavy on protein, before watching The Bear and playing video games with friends to end the night. Today was a great day, and I’m happy I could share it with you.

I talk a lot about setting goals and being proactive in this blog, and my friends can attest I do this in real life as well, but one thing I wanted to stress is that our goals don’t have to be the same. We come in all different forms with different histories and goals. Some people wake up every day aiming for the highest echelon, while others wake up and hope they make it to tomorrow. I find the new year a great time to reflect on the lives we’ve lived, the mistakes we made, and the success we’ve found. I look around and find that I’m grateful for the people in my life, the things I’ve done so far, and the friends I’ve made along the way. And when I look forward to the future, to the uncertainty that it brings, I can only think that right now, in this moment, all I can really do is enjoy right now.

Workouts:

30 minute Yoga

Dynamic stretching

Back Day

• Lat Pulldown 4×12 @ 140lbs
• Deltoid lifts 4×10 @ 100lbs
• Rows 4×12 @ 140lbs
• Preacher Curls 3×12 @ 65lbs
• Hammer Curls 3×8 @ 35lbs
• Lat pullovers 3×12 @ 50lbs