2025
2024 was good to me. I took a year off to take care of our growing family and focused on personal development, specifically on two things: sleep and exercise.
Thanks to my newborn, sleep has finally become a priority. Having to wake up with the baby every morning gave me an excuse to go to bed early each night. I must say, sleep is underrated. This change has made me much more resilient to whatever happens during the day. I highly recommend that people sleep more and sleep better.
Regarding exercise, I have always been active throughout the year but lacked consistency. This was exactly what I wanted to fix in 2024. Previously, I aimed for specific goals, like running 5 km in under 25 minutes. Since having the newborn, my mindset has shifted (thanks, little one); my goal is now to stay healthy. Instead of focusing solely on running or biking or whatever sport I was into at the moment, I decided to alternate between three activities:
- Weight training
- Cardio
- Yoga
I also committed to walking every day between 5 000 and 10 000 steps. Doing this allowed me to focus less on performance and more on my body's capabilities. In the end, I succeeded in training four to five times a week, which is perfect for me right now.
That said, in 2024, I originally wanted to get back to drawing and game development. I started strong, but the reality of taking care of a newborn full-time kicked in quickly. I also noticed that drawing by itself does not excite me as much as working on a computer. In retrospect, I'd rather do computer-assisted work, like 3D modeling or game development. I haven't given up on that path, but I'd rather focus on using my skills for everyday tasks that I personally find more useful. There are a lot of games out there, and if my time is limited, I'd rather play some than build some. The game industry is experiencing a shift nowadays; with the chaos that AI brings to all the tech industries, I'd rather step back a bit and be a spectator. That said, there are a few fascinating things, like shaders, AI in games, and good level design, that I am curious to learn about!
What's Up with 2025?
Sleep
First, I want to continue building on my sleep journey. My routine at night is as follows: put the baby to bed, watch some screen, then sleep. This year, I want to ditch the screen-watching part and replace it with reading books. I want to use screens only during the day and avoid disrupting my sleep as much as possible due to blue light invading my space. Also, feeding my brain with things that are not necessarily related to work or entertainment would give me a broader pool of knowledge and maybe inspire me to try new things.
Transition Plan: I can't use a screen at night more than one day in a row (this will cut my screen time at night by half). The end goal is to not use screens at all two hours before going to bed.
The idea here is not necessarily to ban screens but to experience the benefits of ditching them during this bedtime period.
Food
Regarding my health journey, there is one thing I want to pay more attention to: food. My goal is to ditch processed goods entirely. I am already on a good path, but I still allow myself, during occasions (like Christmas, for example), to indulge in sugar. It's fine, but I'd like to reduce the overall quantity. Additionally, I want to diversify my legume consumption and hit my protein targets every day. I struggle a lot to eat consistently three meals, which I believe results in not-so-great muscle recovery and often leads to cravings.
So, more veggies and more proteins consistently. I'll speak more about the specifics later this month (calories, macros & micros, meal plans, etc.); I allow myself a bit of experimentation there. Also, I want to consistently maintain 12% body fat.
Writing
And the biggest change of 2025: I will start writing. My goal is to get better at expressing what's inside my brain. I'll write about:
- Code experimentation
- Books I read
- My 2025 sleep and food goals
- Workout plans
- Anything else that enables me to express my opinion in written form
And here we go!