tea you cannot miss🍵 all things I loved in feb.

my monthly recs to see/watch/read/be.

feb really feb-ed.

I tried doing a challenge in february that was called february - where I just tried getting through each day as best as I could. 😅

sounds effortful - and trust me it was.

reflecting on this crisp new morning in march, I know where I went wrong. I made everything something that required a lot of effort and intention and focus. too much discipline, too much optimization.

and it showed in an endeavour I spent a chunk of my feb on. it didn’t work out and in hindsight - it is my a pattern I have seen for myself over and over again. I try and meet imaginary deadlines and follow this highly optimistic plan and do everything in me to make it work. I self discipline myself and laser focus on the task, almost to an obsession.

don’t get me wrong, I love this about me. but sometimes, I just forget to…optimize for joy. optimize for lightness. make it less heavy, make it less deep.

and that is my february for you in nutshell - challenging and effortful.

so going into march this year my intention is to begin again.

self-explanatory. just begin again. don’t deep it.

like they say in meditation, every breath is a new breath. every next moment is unexplored and has potential. so just stop, breathe and begin again.

here’s my list in no specific order to begin again a new day.
- take a nap
- take a shower
- take a walk

here’s my list in no specific order to begin again a new week.
- write down your to-do list using pen & paper
- delete 75% of them
- do the remaining and begin again the next week

here’s my list in no specific order to begin again a new month.
- yeah just wait for the next month 🤷‍♀️

so here’s to a new month. what are you hoping to begin again this month?

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before I jump into my monthly recs - here’s something for you if you are beginning (again) your job hunt journey.🌍

Lena was my design recruiter when I moved from India to Spain in 2019 for N26.

she shares tons of cool stuff on Linkedin + recently went full time with her recruitment agency. I followed her all through last year, and find her resilience and this pathless path journey inspiring.

so when we connected again this year, we decided to do this small frank session which aligns with both our values and styles of connection.

here’s a link if you wanna join us.🍵

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📚reading

no books this month - in fact my kindle has been lying uncharged somewhere in my house. I do have a TBR (to-be-read) list so maybe I will relook at it today and find something.

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📱 scrolling

• why is the UX market such a mess right now? on LinkedIn by Jared Spool

• self-disruption, finding new ways to re-invent yourself by

  David Hoang

• your dreams deserve your best hours by

  Anu

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📺 watching

this section will clearly and loudly tell you why my kindle is a second-class citizen at the moment.

we’ve switched out netflix series for movies this month - and I have truly enjoyed watching The Help, Hidden Figures, and Moneyball. I also watched Apple Cider Vinegar during my lunch breaks.

…and as always a lot of youtube videos. I will try and start saving a few as recs to add here but if you want to know my highlight it was Lana Condor’s AD house visit!

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🧚 doing

been really into my teeny youtube channel. it doesn’t surprisingly feel like work - yet. work has been hectic as it’s performance review cycle time. so my limited creative reserve is usually spent filming and editing videos.

hence also a little pause on writing this substack - not been forcing it. woke up this morning and felt like writing, so here I am in your inbox. thanks for reading it!

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📹 on YT this month

here’s why I started a YT channel in case you missed it.

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hope to write this one next month too.

let me know in comments what are you beginning again.
chhavi x