A Few Reflections
Looking back on 2022, it felt like the looping magical realism of Latin America in Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. I went through my first ever transfer quarantine. Just when I thought the year would end in an endless cycle of pandemic controls, the sudden reopening in December closed the year with an online wave of mourning. It was a hard year for everyone.
The first line of the BBC’s 2022 global recap was: 2022 was a long journey. It started with the Russia-Ukraine war and ended with Messi winning the World Cup, which at least put a relatively rounded ending on a long and difficult year.
As I reflect on the experiences and changes of the year, I feel that as a grain of sand in the times, we can only drift with the current of history. As ordinary people we cannot change much; we can only change ourselves and live earnestly. Here are some small gains from my year.
Review
Reading and Writing
Printed Books
11 total
- Novels (6)
- A Lifelong Journey (Ren Shi Jian)
- The Three-Body Problem
- Siddhartha
- Ren Sheng Hai Hai
- To Live
- One Hundred Years of Solitude
- Social sciences (4)
- From the Soil (Xiang Tu Zhong Guo)
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
- Israel: A Nation Reborn (Yi Se Lie: Yi Ge Min Zu De Chong Sheng)
- Guns, Germs, and Steel
- History (1)
- Wan Gu Jiang He
Audiobooks
Fan Deng: 9,247 minutes (about 154 hours), 131 titles
Blog
- Technical posts published: 3
- WeChat official account followers: 85 -> 156
- Reads: close to 5,000
Health and Exercise
Outdoor activities: 2 hikes (far too few)
Weight loss: sadly, no change 
Plans for the New Year
In 2022 I listened to quite a lot of audio, but I didn’t read enough physical books, so I need to increase that. I also missed my target for technical articles, which means I need to beat my procrastination. Health-wise I’m okay, but my exercise is embarrassingly low. I must step it up in 2023 because the future is all about immunity.
Some small goals for 2023
- Health and exercise
- Outdoor activities: 15 times
- Sleep before 11:30 PM every night
- Lose 5 kg
- Build my personal brand
- Publish 10 technical posts
- Increase WeChat followers by 100%
- Independent blog visits exceed 10k
- Read more
- Print books: 18
- Audiobooks: 10,000+ minutes
- Start reading notes (5 posts)
- Improve English listening and speaking
- Keep my Duolingo streak
- Watch TED in English
- Follow creators who teach listening skills and study systematically
A Note to My 2023 Self
Mai Jia wrote a line in Ren Sheng Hai Hai (recently echoed by He Wei, the top CCTV World Cup commentator):
There is only one kind of heroism: to see the world as it is and still love it. — Romain Rolland
In 2023, I hope my family and friends stay healthy. Even if the world is still a mess, I want to keep believing in and loving life, and keep believing that effort leads to better outcomes.