I normally write something either on my birthday or at the start of the year. 2017, 23, 2018. I skipped my birthday post and I’ll be in Italy for the start of 2020. Publishing something now feels like a good in-between.
And I also know these moments of inspiration can be fleeting. If I don’t publish now, it might never see the light of day.
I’m 24 — it has been about 1.5 years since finishing college. I think I’ve generally kicked a** in life since finishing school, but there have been some serious road bumps. I’ve made a lot of new friends. And also lost some. I’ve felt lonely at times and oversocialized at other times. I’ve worked too much at times..and too little at others. If I had to name a theme for my past year of life it would be experimentation. But more than experimentation, this year has been about mistakes (and learning from them)!
I’ve never understood the sentiment of “no regrets”. Of course, I have regrets, I’ve made mistakes in so many areas of my life since moving to SF. I’ve failed to take care of myself at times, I’ve said things I didn’t mean, I’ve let emotions get the best of me. There are so many things I thought (and wanted) to do this year but never made them happen. I’m scared to look back at my reflections last year because I know I didn’t do many of the things I hoped and dreamed of doing.
But that’s life.
In the past, I’ve written these types of posts as a highlight real of my year. But I’m feeling a bit masochistic at the moment and figured y’all might like to hear some of the juicy mistakes and struggles I’ve had had over the past year.
Not taking care of myself.
I once said that the only things that matter when it comes to being good at your job are: caring about the work and taking care of yourself. I was pretty naive about the working world when I said that — but I stand by it!
I’ve got some work to do when it comes to taking care of myself.
Green is healthy, red is me
I don’t generally talk about it, but my posture/spinal health got bad enough this year that it started affecting almost every aspect of my life: relationships, work, fitness, sleep, everything. I haven’t felt like myself for the past ~3 months. But I’m fixing it (!!) Massive shout out to the team at posture works. Since starting to work with them a month ago I’ve seen some major improvements. If you’re in SF or Denver and are serious about fixing your posture, I highly recommend (at least thus far).
Not spending enough time in nature
I’ve gotten out of the city much less than I would have liked since moving to San Francisco. This is disappointing both because there is sooo much incredible nature around the bay area, and also because I think time away from technology is crucial for my mental health, happiness, building strong relationships, and focusing at work.
This is part of why I could not be more stoked to be renting a ski house with some friends for this entire winter.
Not detail-oriented enough at work
I’ve caused several post mortems at work over the past year. I don’t take the impact lightly. Although some incidents taught important lessons, some likely could have been avoided had I been more focused on the details. Luckily my coworkers have a short memory because I haven’t been fired yet and people seem to (mostly) enjoy working with me.
Not focusing enough on relationships
When I moved to SF, I knew VERY few people. As someone that doesn’t always enjoy partying on the weekends, I found it harder to “find my tribe”. I also didn’t put much effort in. I was so focused on work and other aspects of life that I neglected making real friendships. I’m happy to say I’ve done a wayy better job of this over the past few months.
Both the exciting and depressing thing about life is that the most important things: relationships, health, work are never “done”. They require constant attention, learning, mistakes, and more learning.
Okiee, now that that’s over with, time to talk about a few of my favorite wins.
I started a newsletter!
I’ve managed to publish semi-regularly. At this point, the newsletter has become such a part of my weekly routine that it’s hard to imagine not doing it. The audience is still relatively small, but I get so much pleasure out of sharing a few ideas with y’all each week.
Scored a powder day at squaw
Only crashed into a snow bank on the way there once 😃
Skiied Shasta (from the summit!)
Started using Twitter (and met some amazing people as a result)
Why is there not a referral bonus if you connect 2 people and they get married?
— Taylor Milliman (@TayTayTrey) July 7, 2019
Hosted dinner parties + Made some friends
My Lambda school mentee got a job
My @LambdaSchool mentee got an offer from her dream company today !
— Taylor Milliman (@TayTayTrey) July 11, 2019
So fucking excited to see more companies giving non-traditional students a chance.
Next step: negotiation😉
Visited some national parks
Shipped some massive projects at work
Wasn’t quite sure what to put here… this gif from Hood Slam felt right.
Started playing the piano again
Learned to unicycle
I have no concrete hopes and dreams for the next year other than to stay as excited and engaged with each day as I possibly can be. Excited to see what happens.
Thanks for reading.
