Time is precious
In January I posted “What this publication will cover this year” and was ready to follow with a steady stream of posts which built on top of the foundation I established last year. I was ready to publish at the same rate I was last year; I already had another post written that I was in the midst of editing which was to be the first of many delving into the key themes I had previously introduced. All of this towards larger personal goals I had set myself after leaving Seek and Malaysia.
That post has remained mid-edit since then. My single post this year, so full of promise now taunts as a reminder of unfinished business and what happened in my life that put that all on-hold.
During February, an event in my personal life cold-clocked me. A slow-moving tragedy became a fast moving one and I made an emergency trip from Auckland to Melbourne. One day I might write about what happened but it’s not something I have been able to do yet, so I am sorry, I won’t be more specific until I am ready. I’ve tried, I know writing will be cathartic but it's been too hard to do right now. Even this update has taken multiple attempts over many months — who knows if this particular time I sat down at the keyboard is the day I finally hit ‘Publish’.
I am now back in Auckland after a significant stay in Melbourne. The stay in Melbourne was one of intense contrasts; the awful nature of the event that brought me back versus the amazing support from friends and family whilst I was there. It was at once both the lowest point in my life and at the same time like an all-encapsulating warm hug. It will stay with me as a bittersweet mix of painful memories punctuated with moments which, whilst hard to describe as happiness, definitely were ones of being supported and strongly aware of the love from family and friends.
On my return from Melbourne I completed my second 14-day stint in Managed Isolation Quarantine (MIQ). Again I am thankful for friends and family checking in on me during that stay. This time it was far more difficult a stay than the first time around when I had completed quarantine with my wife and son when we first moved to New Zealand last year. Being alone with your thoughts after heartbreak combined with a deep and aching longing to be home to be with my wife and son who were patiently awaiting my return was a maddening concoction. It seems trite but because of the escapism I needed to get through this isolation I am also grateful for the variety of streaming services which kept me occupied outside of the rostered exercise time slots and comforting video chats. If this were early last century I would have needed an additional suitcase full of books to cover the stay, distraction to put off deep contemplation until I was strong enough to face it.
Also since returning home I completed a contract position as a ‘Product Consultant’ with the excellent Xero who were amazing in accommodating my pause of contract and recommencement when I needed something to distract me from paralyzing darker moments. That was helpful to have that work and I started back during my quarantine stay.
I’ve more recently started with a startup recruitment technology business Weirdly as Chief Product & Technology Officer who were also amazingly accommodating of my circumstance and sudden lack of availability. Once I was ready I joined, first in a part-time and then full-time capacity. It’s great to have the chance to adapt my suite of tools for new contexts to see what is relevant in those contexts and what is different. Whilst I started my career in startup businesses not all tools in their current incarnation that I write about had been applied by me in a startup context, until now. It can only improve the relevance of what I share.
So that is where I am at, present day. It's one thing to know something and another to have experienced it. Nothing is forever as recent events have made painfully clear — there’s to know it and to know it. This knowledge makes it ever more clear to me now of the importance of working and living with purpose and having an approach which can help ensure we are spending our time, whether in our home or our work lives, on the things and the people that matter to us.
I will continue to share what I’ve observed over a career and life of experiences and would value your own shared experiences to help me continue this journey of discovery. I am glad to be back to writing and hope some of what I share connects with you and helps you on your own journey.
This is one piece of knowledge I wish I could give back, if I could. I can’t share it in the same way, but I can share the lessons it led me to.
