Year of Adventure

At the start of this year, I was excited to spend some time away from the rat race. I had taken a voluntary work sabbatical to focus on my newborn.

I had a year of exploration. ✈️

Goals

I had many goals during my time off work. There’s finally time to start doing some side-projects that I’ve always wanted to do!

But, being a stay-at-home parent is truly a full-time job, especially at 6-18 months when their little minds are soaking in everything. My daughter needed a playmate to spar with, and I was that playmate.

Nonetheless, I was able to spend some time exploring. Here I’ll reflect on what I strived to accomplish.

  • Explore Family: Be present while my daughter’s growing up ✅
    • Check! I’m super grateful to be with her at many firsts - “dada”, crawling, walking.
    • I also love her “WOW” proclamations at everything new, and seeing her face light up when I make her smoothies
    • Even though it’s draining, parenting is rewarding. It allows me to savour the little moments in life
  • Explore Business: A laser-cutting service ✅
    • Charred Designs was born and we experimented alot this year 👨‍🔬
    • We went to 3 different craft fairs! (It was a wild ride while RSV was circling our family but we survived)
    • Etsy store is up with a grand total of 5 sales 😆
  • Explore Community: Daddy and Me group for a community of dads focussed on family ✅
    • Didn’t end up forming one, but I have a supportive friend group who are also new parents. Thankful for sharing stories and exchanging tips
    • Found my community through programs at community centers and neighbourhood family places. Great places to drop-in for kids AND parents to chat
  • Explore Creatively: Self-publish an escape-room book ❌
    • This one is put on the backburner. Still on the bucket list though!
    • With ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other AI tools popping up…maybe I could use them to help me with graphics… 🤔
  • Explore Passion: Hone my teaching skills through blogging and video tutorials ❌
    • Also on the backburner. Videos take so much more time than you think!
    • I did do a cybersecurity workshop to seniors…that was fun
  • Explore Literally: At least one east-coast Canada trip and one international trip ✅
    • Lesson learnt: Travelling with a baby is AMBITIOUS. Applause for all the parents that do travel during their baby’s first 2 years of life.
    • We went to the east coast to visit a friend in St. John’s, Newfoundland and stopped by Montreal to visit the Biodome
    • Highlights: reaching the most easternly point of Canada (Cape Spear), partridgeberry jam, and Little Italy’s potato pizza 🤤.

Closing Thoughts

I’m happy with where the year’s taken me. At first I was a bit nervous, losing the only structure I knew. But it was a refreshing change with more balance in my life.

Onto better and newer things for 2023!