Stocktake 2006

Stocktake 2006

I've delayed this stocktake for a long time. Either the internet connection was too slow (maybe thanks to the Taiwan earthquake that affected the submarine fibre optic cables) or I was too busy. Sometimes I was not in the mood to take on the massive task of pondering over the past 365 days. I kept telling myself that I have until 31 Dec 06. Now that I am barely 40 minutes before the new year arrives, I am going to mull over what I have done for the past 525 600 minutes (that is a year measured in minutes).

This may be a very fragmented entry, just like the episodes that pepper my life are. The only continuity is life. It flows like a smooth curtain of water and the events are like stones thrown at the water screen. There are splashes, some big, some small and most fade away, just like the curtain is restored after the disturbance dies down. I had earlier wanted to do a line-item stocktake but it would read like a never ending laundry list. Perhaps I should summarise the takeaways for 2006 instead.

I have a better understanding of the idea of work-life balance. I have also become better at achieving work-life balance. I have time for myself to do the things I like, I have learnt to take in information and news in tandem to the work I have to do. I have learnt to separate work and my private life well. I try my level best to keep it that way and whenever I had to work in my spare time, I know that such work is justified.

I have found a better equilibrium with my surroundings. This is a little difficult to explain but it is the innate sense of security that provides you with a protective. I don't feel invincible but I am more at peace with not having to prove what I am capable of.

I have lost even more rough edges. And with that, I am less piqued or angry with events that do not go as planned or with things which should but do not come my way. There are some things that I know I need to influence indirectly and so I try to make the best of the situation and steer it back. It is hard but it is a skill that needs to be honed.

And I have completed thinking about my next 5 years. It will be exciting!