Stuff that happened

December started off with some jiu jitsu developments. After roughly two years of training, I was promoted to blue belt! 

I was really happy about the promotion but I couldn’t help but feel some imposter syndrome in the back of my head. I don’t have much competition experience, nor can I consistently submit white belts or larger opponents. I suppose this is true for all newly promoted students though.

The day after my promotion I attended my first ever jiu jitsu competition. It was an in-house competition so there weren’t a lot of people, but it was a new and nerve wracking experience nonetheless. 

I fought two rounds and went 1 win 1 loss with both matches ending in a decision. I was satisfied with my performance, although I wish I had gotten a submission. I learned a lot about what aspects of my game I need to work on, so that was cool 👍.

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Later in the month we moved in to our recently purchased house. It wasn’t exactly the best time to move as we were hit with a lot of fog and freezing rain, but we had no choice in the matter. It all worked out in the end though as we finished packing ahead of schedule and moved a bunch of boxes on our own. We hired movers for the remaining bigger furniture and they did the job swiftly and efficiently.

We absolutely love the house! The size is perfect; it’s not too big, but big enough to have our very own office space and a spare room for guests. The backyard is pretty sweet too and I’m stoked to have BBQs there in the summer.

My parents came to visit from Ottawa and it was awesome to have enough room for them to stay comfortably. I felt very proud to host my parents in my very own home.

For the most part we chilled at home, powering through the classic The Twilight Zone series and making homemade meals. It was fun showing them around Montreal too.

I’m so excited to finish setting the place up and to explore the new neighbourhood!

What I read

This month I read 10% Happier by Dan Harris. It is about his journey into meditation and self-help which he decided to pursue after having numerous panic attacks on live TV while anchoring the news.  I was eager to read this because I had recently got into meditation and wanted to read about another person’s path to mindfulness.

I liked 10% Happier for its honesty and humour. It took a while for meditation to ‘click’ with Harris and it was cool to see how he got to that point. At one point he talks about his time at a meditation retreat which he dreaded initially. This quote from his first few days of the retreat had me chuckling:

At the end of one back-and-forth, I look up and see a statue of the Buddha. Silently, I send him the following message: Fuck you.

Harris, Dan. 10% Happier (p. 136). Dey Street Books. Kindle Edition.

10% Happier was a good read as a newbie to meditation. I didn’t quite find the information I was hoping to get out of the book (i.e. how to apply meditation to my own work) but it did inspire me to continue on my own mindfulness journey.

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I’m posting this on New Year’s Eve as I prepare to board my plane to New Zealand. I’m going to be spending a month over there with Kylea and her family. More on that next month! 🇳🇿🐑

Happy holidays & happy new year!