Of life at 0.75x
Climb ev'ry mountain, ford every stream
The highest hill in Singapore is 164m tall, so I am pretty proud I made it up 610m to the First Peak of Stawamus Chief, earlier this month in Squamish, B.C. Not before I was chided by E for not having a waterbottle for the climb (because I thought the climb would be at most 2 hours up and down), and meeting J, D (with extra water!) and their family who were already headed down to the base. They hid behind very polite and encouraging smiles when I said, "Is the peak just 15 minutes more?"
It's been a while since I last wrote. How have you been? I was busy watching the world pass me by, and I especially held the following thoughts in my head when I was in Canada.
Live Life at 0.75x. You are on holiday. There is no rush to be anywhere but here.
But it sure wasn't easy. Instinctively, I thought: I'm on holiday, I'd better pack some activities in. Ironically, the 4-day-long initial jetlag helped in this 0.75x attempt because I wasn't quite operating at full speed. I slowed down, found a couple of good coffee places, spent time in Nature, and walked enough to feel refreshed. Shoutout to Jetlag Rooster which I only belated found out about and will use for my next longer trip.
Falling like the stars
There's beauty in the 0.75 - (a) watching two separate sets of friends celebrate their joining in matrimony. Observing how their friends and family came from all over the world to celebrate them, in Singapore, in Canada. We honestly don't celebrate each other enough. (b) spending time in a tiny home with my old friend E, appreciating how we have grown from kids sharing an ensuite in university, to more-than-competent and amazing individuals, going on daily hikes (one was the 'no water bottle' hike) and watching salmon spawn in the rushing river behind our tiny house. (c) reading, to let my imagination draw out the scenes and dialogue.
Random bits in the past months
Visiting Kuala Lumpur after 15 years and finally meeting my dear IG friend Fiona - who is an excellent cook and baker. I laughed when she told me she expected me to be super enthusiastic since we were saying hi for the very first time, but I was more like, "oh, hi (polite smile)".
Embarking on a 30-day challenge where my key word was "Movement" so besides my weekly PT and dance sessions, I added morning walks and of course restorative yoga when my body said "no thank you, why this sudden act enthu effort?!"
Coordinating a 3-person WhatsApp chat group to ensure we get Mayday tickets for January 2024, and flipping out because our NTU-trained Fastest Fingers First clicks almost couldn't beat "I need to Carousell this" scalpers
Getting better at dancing, and also thankful for the encouraging IG DMs from friends who were pretty much forced to witness my progress across the weeks if they didn't skip the stories
I also want to say, I really like intentional gifts (not that I expect them), so this handwritten note really stood out.
Life can be pretty good, if you choose to live it. Bye bye bicycle!
Medhā at 0.75