Avan Chan @avan735 - Twitter Profile

I’m scared I focused on the wrong thing all this time. I used to pride myself in prioritizing career over other facets of life - health, romance, and for a lack of a better word, fun. It was easy when it came to myself. But recently, I found myself rushing through a conversation with my mother asking about my day. What am I even rushing to that’s more important than being present with my own mom? It seems like these days we’re always trying to optimize - code, to time spent on meals (Instacarting groceries, DoorDash over cooking, to multitasking over dining with friends) and don’t get me started on peptides. But what time can you not get back? Ambition is great. I will always be ambitious. But ambition kills if you lose track of what’s actually important in pursuit of achieving those goals. I think about this image a lot. It shows the number of certain life experiences quantified. Events as a unit of measurement, rather than time. After moving out for college, then to your big new city post grad, you’ve “set” the dinners left with family around the table to a finite number. By 18, you’ve spent 90% of your total in-person time with your parents. The amount of time you have with your family is a definite decreasing function. I hate that. Today, I FaceTimed my parents each for 2 hours and my dad told me stories about his twenties and his life before me. Gatekept information until as of late tbh (trust me I’ve always pried) but finally being at that age where they can finally tell you stuff has its advantages. My goal this year is to spend as much time as possible with my family. None of us are getting any younger. But realizing this means you can intentionally create more squares on your grid. Call ur folks!