... we were through the Corona period and unfortunately, we still are. Currently about 60% of Swiss, Greek, Cypriot and most European countries are already vaccinated. Thankfully, we just passed the summer period so the measurements taken by European governments were more relaxed, and much friendlier that the previous summer.
Since my last update, I continue with the self-improvement goals, and I have set some more metrics for tracking my progress. I use Trello since the beginning of the year and I have to admit that it helped a lot in succeeding my goals, as having a plan, a monthly goal and weekly 'sprints' really puts you in track. I have separated my goals in the following categories, if you would also be interested to do it for yourself: "Relax/Personal Life", "Physical Health", "Work/Job", "Education/Business", "Finances", "Social-Key relationships" and "Luxury/Travel" (if you think that there is something missing, please send me an email to add this).
One of the yearly big goals is to improve physically, in strength and in fitness. This goes well so far. I am in about 70% success and there are 5 more months left. Though, recently, I remain stable and not progressing that much, mostly because during summer I had a lot of temptations (e.g. could not resist temptation of some Greek cuisine) but the goal of losing 5kg more and gain more muscle structure remains.
What's more, another yearly goal is to self-improve also spiritually. This also goes very well so far. I feel remarkably good, as I tent to succeed my latest personal goals, I have improved a lot my work-life balance and I feel a sense of purpose almost every single day (i.e. I feel very nice every morning when waking up and I start my day). I would say that since the last update I focused much more in the spiritual improvement rather than the physically. You can find more in the next section about this.
First of all, I started a new job! The last months I was trying to get myself up to date with technology stacks and tried also working on some personal projects. My previous job did not make me so happy, especially the last year, and eventually I applied to some positions and that's how it happened. I got a new fancy job in the same industry I work the last 4-5 years. I am very happy mostly for 3 particular reasons. Firstly, I upgraded my role position to becoming the engineering lead of the team I work with, so now I try to put my feet in these different shoes and I accept the challenges of having some more responsibilities, and having to practice some additional qualities of my character like empathy, good communication skills, good presentation skills, and plenty more... Secondly, the team is promising. So far, my team is self-organized, there exists the so-called 'team spirit' and each and every individual is friendly, responsible and knowledgeable. Thirdly, the stack we use is much closer to the state of the art nowadays, which keeps me in track with my goal not to be left behind technology-wise. So, having said all that, the next months I should keep my focus a bit more on my work and the project I am working on, in order to have a good start.
Apart from the work, I managed to shorten a lot the TV-time and I substituted it with some reading-time or personal time. I finished a big task I had started in order to write down in detail my financial status, so that I can keep a better track and start optimizing my expenses. I also managed to lessen by almost 20% the total tasks in my 2021-todo-lists. I traveled to Andros to practice one of my favorite summer hobbies, windsurfing, and I also tried some more activities in Wesurfin. Then, finally I had also some relaxing time in Koufonisia where I switched off completely and recharged.
Finally, I have started some short of environmental activism. The last last decade, maybe more, the number of natural catastrophes has risen much beyond the averages. Specifically, this summer there were all over the globe fires, droughts, flood, animal species extinctions, etc. All of these in extension... in a way that they start to seem 'normal'. People nowadays seem to be more aware, but this alone cannot make a difference. Each one of us should act. Awareness is one thing, acting for a change is another. So, this is how I decided to be a little more active and engaged, and I plan to keep up. A good action I decided to make this summer, that was so easy for me to do and though it was the first time I did it, was to clean the sea bottoms from plastic and other garbage (in the next days possibly I will write a blog post about this). I think I qualify as a good candidate to do so, as I love sea exploration, I used to fish when I was a teenager and have seen the sea-destruction that is human-caused, and I also have healthy and strong lungs to be able to dive deeper than an average person. So, how hadn't I thought about this before?! Anyhow... This summer I managed to clean at least 3 different sea bottoms of some beaches in Koufonisia, and this was really worth it and also made me feel gratitude! Ι totally urge you to do such a move yourself and find a way to contribute. It is reciprocating and feels good :)!
Since the last years, I can visualize that I have turned my focus more and more to be eco-friendly and healthy-friendly. I tend to care more about the climate change and the food sustainability and I try to promote these two, to my everyday life with choices I do daily, and also to the awareness of my friends.
Finally, currently in my free time I continue to enjoy: 1. Reading/listening some books, 2. Playing chess with my girlfriend on this board, and, 3. Studying some economics for my work and for personal reasons.
...Nothing new here.
If my life changes I'll update this page.
Inspired by Johan Brook