Shifting through seasons of life

Finding balance and optimizing focus for the present

Today is Saturday, May 13th, and I haven't shared written thoughts in months.

Writing was a part of my identity for a while. Yet, I haven't had the same drive to continue since the new year. Part of this is natural, but part of this is intentional.

In the past, I always thought I had to do everything all at once. This meant I felt the pull to be:

• Exploring the world

• Succeeding in my job

• Building side projects

• Cultivating healthy relationships

• Meeting new & exciting people

• Involved in many social settings & social groups

• Eating healthy & maintaining a strong physique

All at once...

I felt the pull to be "the complete man, a well-rounded citizen." I thought I needed to be fully optimized in every area of life.

While some of the areas can coexist, the reality is that putting 150% in each of these areas at once isn't possible.

In the past, I would feel intense frustration when I couldn't accomplish everything I set out to do. I stretched myself too thin, trying to accomplish many items on such a broad spectrum.

This was unneeded frustration. Frustration further pulled me away from the action in the areas of life that should have been a focus at that time.

In reality, I needed a deeper focus in that season of life.

I define a season of life as a three to four-month period in a particular context, environment, or social surroundings.

For each season of life, I needed to pick two to three crucial focuses for that season's orientation.

I've (overly) simplified this into what I'll call the "Triangle of Life." (This is an idea that I've probably taken and developed into a version I call my own, but I can't recall where 😂).

The Triangle of Life

This triangle composes of three edges:

• Wealth: focusing on productivity, career success, & income-generating activities

• Health: focusing on physical well-being, conscious eating, & general activity

• Social: focusing on going out to social settings, travelling/exploring, & hedonism

The balancing of this triangle is delicate. It's nearly impossible to focus on all three without burnout. The best balance comes from focusing on two of the three.

However, focusing on 2 of the 3 for a long period of time leads to long-term personal growth imbalances.

For example, imagine you decide to maintain your focus on wealth and social for three months.

This leads to growth in your areas of wealth and social at the end of those three months and a decrease in your health.

If you continue this focus for the rest of the year, this continues to compound positively and negatively.

This is fine for short periods, but too much focus in one or two areas can lead to long-term imbalances rather than the success you desire.

Adapting to your Seasons of Life

This is over-simplistic, but the message remains the same.

Success requires focus.

Without focusing on the key areas important to you in a certain season, you will pull yourself too wide and end up burning out or suffering from analysis paralysis.

However, keep in mind that the areas of focus aren't always supposed to be centred around productivity, growth, and the stereotypical definition of success.

In 2022, much of my focus was spent on personal development, changing careers, and deep learning.

I recently spent the winter in beautiful Mexico City. After my first few weeks there, I realized I needed to change my focus for this new season of life in CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico).

My surroundings, environment, and what I wanted to accomplish in this new season of life were at odds with my focus from 2022.

I was in a gorgeous, sprawling city and was not making enough effort to explore it and meet new people.

So, I intentionally switched gears and re-aligned my focus. This led to less writing and content creation and more exploration, social activity, and in-the-moment fun.

Using the Triangle of Life as a model, my focus shifted toward the Social side of the balance.

Reflection

Reflecting on this experience, I've learned that by experimenting habitually and re-aligning focus to new areas, you will naturally reflect on areas you used to focus on.

This is the stage that I've come to with writing. After writing on and off throughout 2022, taking a break at the beginning of 2023 has brought me a renewed feeling of enjoyment and a change in what writing and content creation means to me.

Life is just one large cycle of keeping your focus in balance.

As Sahil Bloom says,

Life is cyclical. The seeds of destruction are sewn during creation, and the seeds of creation are sewn during destruction.

What you need in the last season of life may differ from what you need in the current season (or will need in the future).

What's important is to continue to reflect on each change and tweak for how you want to continue to learn, improve, and have fun.

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Thanks for reading this issue of Constantly Curious.

If you enjoyed what you read, I’d really appreciate it if you could forward it to a friend, family member, or colleague who you think might like it as well!

Or, if you’d like to share it on one of your social networks, that’s always great too.

Hope to see you again soon 😊,

— Sul

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