My good friend Gyan reminded me recently that I haven’t written a blog post in a while – thanks for the reminder Gyan.

It’s now been over exactly 2 years since I struck out to fend for myself and not rely on the drug that is the monthly pay cheque. That two years has flown on one hand but feels like 5 years on the other hand.

I have zero regrets so far – could I have another house in the meantime? Sure! Would I be working 3/4/5 hours a day, taking it easy and earning a decent salary at the same time, absolutely! But it wasn’t for me – at least not until I’d exhausted all my options.

Main things I’m happy with in the last 2 years:

• Quit my job
• Moved country
• Learned a new language
• Made lots of new friends
• Created a hiking club/german club – both to get me to do things but also to bring people together
• Co-founded a new software company
• Made many mistakes along the way

What I thought would be easier:

• Learning a new language
• Making friends in the middle of Corona lockdowns
• Getting recurring revenue for a software as a service type company

At the end of the day, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow – which actually almost happened twice while out cycling already in the last year in Berlin, I want to be able to say I tried to live a life according to what I want to get out of it. Not only in a hedonistic, nothing but fun for me kind of way but also in a, is this the best use of my skills kind of way, is this how best I can contribute to the world and society kind of way. I feel like I know much more about what I’m good at, what I enjoy, what I’m bad at, and what I dislike now. It’s a process that is still ongoing but it gives me a good sense of stability and confidence in myself.

I’ll get back to the progress review posts I used to do but maybe quarterly instead of monthly – monthly can get depressing when nothing of note happens in a month, or if as often happens in life – its one step forwards, two steps backwards…