June & July 2020, Monthly Wrap-Up

Hello friends,

How have you been doing lately? As you may have gathered from my last newsletter, I took a conscious and deliberate time of vacations for the last month. I just needed to get away from the blog, the newsletter, and as much as I could from social media and the stress of society so that I can reflect on what I really wanted.

No, I haven’t become a monk or walked into a desert to reflect on life or something, I just took life one day after another. When you put goals like publishing every week this year, it’s easy to lose track of what you are doing it for, and I didn’t want that. Even if I’m ambitious or want to be disciplined so that I can achieve my goals, I want to have a why, to be conscious about what I do, I want for you, who consume my work to be able to feel it. As Friedrich Nietzche said:

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

So I just took a break because I thought I needed it. And, for most of it, I just enjoyed not having deadlines or any strings 😂 although I’ll admit I missed writing and having a routine a lot. Lately though (and unexpectedly), I’ve been thinking a lot and feeling inspired… and I just thought I’d keep you updated on what has been up so far. So, after this long intro, and without further ado, here’s what I’ve been up to this last couple of months.

Moving out and other adulting things 😴

It’s not exactly fun and relaxing to move out, but it is enjoyable once the process is over. During the past couple of months, I’ve looked for a new apartment, signed a lease, and… moved out! I’m rather happy about it because I’m now in an apartment less expensive (the main reason why I switched), closer to my school and bigger than the past one, would you believe it? Past the pain and stress of having to move out, I’m happy about it all, and so I feel “at home” in the new Appartement.

I’ve also been looking for a job and thinking a lot about what I want to do in life lately. What am I good at? What skills can I sell, to whom? And most of all, what do I want? Neither of these questions has easy answers, but I’m confident the doubts will fade progressively as I’ll experiment with different things. For now, I’m just looking for a seasonal job of any kind and honing my skills on the side (with online courses & projects) until I can finally find something in my field.

Summer in Montréal

Reflecting on my first year of school abroad

It has already been a year since I arrived in Montréal to study Software Engineering. This year hasn’t been without challenges: having to adapt to a new country, new culture, to life in the big university that is Polytechnique Montréal, and of course to the COVID-19 crisis. None of it was easy or without pain, but I did learn a lot.

After finishing my 10th class in this new university, and I can finally feel like I made it. Well… I still have 4 years to go, don’t mistake me, but, I use to have way less confidence, I wasn’t entirely sure I was suited for this kind of study. But, as time went, and as small successes piled up, I relinquished a lot of my stress and earned confidence. I’m still not perfect or organized, I still don’t know it all and I definitely still stress a lot… but way less than 6 months ago. In many ways, I’m more at peace and ready to face each new challenge, one at a time.

Getting back to code, reading & writing

One of the things I’m most proud of in the past couple of months is: getting back to learning how to code. I mean.. yes I never really stopped, especially as I study software engineering (hence code, using C++), but I got back to my personal projects and learning. In June, I completed this 21 hours course on Udemy: “Modern JavaScript From The Beginning” (by Brad Traversy) and, I'm currently following the “Complete React Developer in 2020 (w/ Redux, Hooks, GraphQL) ” course by Andrei Neagoie. For each new skill I learn, I try to apply it to some personal project, and I gain confidence at every turn.

Finally, I’ve slowly got back to writing for the French publication Siècle Digital, writing for the blog/newsletter, and reading. I finally finished my re-read of Atomic Habits by James Clear, and I’m currently making my way through “L’énigme de la Chambre 622” by Joël Dicker.

Wrap-Up

Although I missed creating content and sharing with you guys, these past months have been beautiful, yet calm and cozy for many different reasons. As tomorrow will mark the anniversary of my arrival in Canada, I just want to say that I'm happy with what I have learned and achieved thus far. And I just can't wait for the new adventures to come!

Posts & Content I've loved this month

• [Article]: If you aren't following Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books yet, you should. I always love her creativity when it comes to books, this month, I loved "Songs Lyrics I would love to turn into books".
• [Article]: "Stop Trying to Make Hard Work Easy". This post by Dan Shipper on the Superorganizers' blog has had the most impact on my life this month. It just made me rethink a lot of things.
• [Article]: I also love "The 1 Percent Rule: Why a Few People Get Most of the Rewards" by James Clear (author of Atomic Habits)