A look back at my 2017

2017 ended up being a very stressful year: burnout, breakup, and professional uncertainty.

Luckily, it got way better by the end of the year. Nonetheless, it was very difficult. Still, I’m happy about the changes I made along the way.

Switching from a Nikon D3100 to a Fuji X100F camera

After a couple of years of owning my D3100, I realized that I’m pretty serious about my photography hobby as it provides me a platform to express my artsy side and my need to document things. I started thinking about a gear upgrade and, after analyzing my use, I felt like a 35mm fixed lens would do the job. I also heard lots of praises for the Fuji X100 series and thought I might just try their most recent upgrade—and boy, I love my camera!

Being more active

Since my job includes a lot of sitting around and typing on a keyboard, I decided to include daily physical activity in my routine. I started with biking as a way to commute. But I didn’t stop there: I included almost daily extra physical activity—gym (at least 3 times a week), swimming (at least once a week), and dancing (at least once a week). I also do some climbing once in a while, and I’m very open to trying new things, such as surfing in the nearby ocean. It’s usually fun, minus the occasional injuries. This takes a big chunk of my free time, but I usually include listening to software and technology-related podcasts when possible in order to stay updated on the newest technologies (two birds, one stone?).

Biking everywhere

I live in a medium-sized city. Public transportation is OK: if you can take the tramway, it’s just great; otherwise, there are buses that you want to avoid because of the low and jittering frequencies. We also have a public bike-sharing scheme that is pretty good. I was alternating between public bikes and buses for my daily commute but ended up deciding that I should get my own bike so I could shorten my commute time and widen my reach in the city (also maybe get rid of my eternal skinny-legs problem?). I started by committing to only use the public bike-share system for a month. Then, I bought a cheap Decathlon bike (VTC) that is now my own.

Swimming

Last year, I took swimming lessons after realizing I didn’t really know how to swim properly. This year, I included swimming in my weekly habits. I was doing 2 to 4 km almost every week during summer and most of autumn. I had to slow down a bit during winter (because of a leg injury), but I’m counting on starting again soon. It’s great cardio, and I get to work on my swimming technique.

Ballroom dance lessons

I always felt uncomfortable with dancing, but I noticed that I like Rock’n’Roll moves and had been thinking about taking lessons for a while. I ended up finding a school in the city that offers lessons where Rock is taught 60% of the time and various other ballroom dances take up the remaining chunk. The school is a bit far from my place, but thanks to my new bike, I was able to attend and add an hour of biking as a bonus physical activity for the day.