Another Birthday Marked


 It has been a year since I posted, which feels both short and long at the same time. It is like time moves fast when you get older, but at the same time slows down when a lot of things are happening throughout the year. 2025 is one of those years that feels like one, with many breaking news stories and new dramatic headlines in the never-ending barrage of the news cycle. 

How do I cope with this fast-paced world? It feels like it is even moving faster, driven by AI. I try to continue to keep doing my healthy habits as much as I can, avaoiding not to be pulled into the never ending visous cercle, seeing things as they are, but at the same time stay firm and comitted into things I believe. 

I managed to exercise and be more active than the previous year, even if sometimes I have to drag myself to the gym or invite my girlfriend to join me as my workout buddy. I am also more conscious of what I eat and when I eat. I can not eat anything, anytime, and expect that there are no consequences.   That was a privilege I had when I was in my 20s, living in a country where the food is closer to nature. 


The other thing I continue doing is taking pictures multiple times a week. Photography has been a very useful tool for me to stop the moment and reflect on it. It is a multistage process that lets me be in the moment from seeing, composing, taking, and editing. I haven't done much on the reflection side and the sharing part, as I should be doing. I might need to do that more so that others can see and appreciate my work. 

Music had also been part of my normalcy for many years. I believe I listened to more music this year than in recent years. What is also different is that now I am intentionally listening to music, just as I did years ago, before digital streaming. Music is no longer a background sound when I do different things, but the main activity. Before the age of Spotify and similar services, we had porposfully had to buy our music from music shops and listen to it on our stereos, stopping, rewinding, and flipping the cassette. It was a hands-on process.  When I was gifted a record player a few years ago, I rediscovered the process of intentional listening. I have to look for the records that I want to play and physically put them on the record player to play them. 


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