Above Picture: Lunch with my wife in Dec 2022 at an American Diner - of course I had to order a milkshake

I’ll start with the lows:

1. Julian falling sick from childcare, Covid19 & lack of uninterrupted sleep

   Julian, my son, has started attending preschool from Jan for the first time. He went to school for 2 weeks and was sick for 4 weeks. My wife and I thought - for him to attend preschool at a later age (1 year and 10 months) than most toddlers his age, he would have built a stronger immune system. We couldn’t be more wrong. And as we spoke to more parents, we learnt that falling sick when starting school is very very common. Falling sick means disruption to routine - activities, meals and sleep.

   The ‘finale’ of his time in preschool ended in catching Covid19 and spreading it to the rest of the family - including my mother-in-law who stays with us on weekdays. It’s one thing to take care of a sick toddler who is too young to effectively communicate. It’s another to take care of sick toddler when you’re sick as well. With Covid19, my wife and my energy levels were super low and yet we couldn’t rest properly with sick Julian waking up at multiple times of the night. We really thought we couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.

   2022 also marks the start of Julian sleeping with my wife and I together in our bedroom (previously, he slept with my mother-in-law). This means constant lack of uninterrupted sleep in 2022 due to Julian waking up at random times of the night, even after Covid19. This is one of the things I really struggled with in 2022 and believe will continue to struggle with. I have obviously been taking uninterrupted sleep for granted.

2. Layoff at Shopify

   I joined Shopify at beginning of 2022 - with much excitement. I have been a fan boy of Shopify - even before i joined the e-commerce industry. In July 2022, Shopify announced the lay off of 10% of its workforce or about 1,000 employees, its first big layoff since the company was founded in 2006. 2022 was the year of tech layoffs - for various reasons: interest rate hike, unsustainable growth as the world returns to pre-pandemic / offline activities, etc. I believe Shopify’s layoff was due to the mixture of both reasons. See Shopify blog post on layoff.

   This was my first time being in a company which executed a layoff. While I was glad my role was not affected, I had colleagues who I worked closely with being impacted. While the news of the layoff was communicated via email (and Shopify being a 100% remote company), this news hit close to my gut. I felt it could easily have been me (I re-read the CEO’s email a few times to make sure I read it right). Looking back, I also think this news impacted me a little more because I’ve been a fan boy of the company. I felt this layoff marked an end of an era for Shopify. Maybe it was also a good (timely) reminder that with employment, one can never be 100% safe.

3. Investment Portfolio gone red

   I needed to put on record that 2022 was a year where equities performed dismally. And since most of my portfolio are in equities, 2022 wasn’t the best year in terms of investing / personal finance. (Maybe I should be glad I did not yield to the temptation of dabbling in crypto.) I believe this also creates the conundrum of whether to double-down in equities since they are down (Warren Buffett’s “Be greedy when others are fearful”) or to re-balance / diversify portfolio. I did a mixture of both - continued with Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) and shifted some to cash funds.

My highlights of 2022:

1. Addition to the family (!) and quality outdoor time with Julian

   Biggest highlight: We’re going to be a family of 4! Wife and I spent some time and back-and-forth going through the decision of having a second child. It’s obviously a huge huge decision and it’s extremely important to be on the same page as a couple on this joint-decision. There was a time when one party was more inclined to having a second child and the other was less inclined. And then, the situation flipped - the party who was more inclined became less inclined and vice versa. It took us some time to be aligned. One question I floated was - “when we get to a stage where we can’t conceive children anymore, will you regret that we did not try?”

   Discussion on this joint-decision required both my wife and I to be extremely truthful about so many issues - how do we envision our lives in the future? will we be happy with just 1 child down the road (100% nothing wrong with 1 child)? what will family life look like with 1 child vs 2 children? Resources: can we afford another child? what financial or lifestyle adjustments / decisions do we need to make to have another child? will we have the energy? what help will we need if we do have another child? etc etc.

   Nonetheless, wife and I felt extremely blessed when we received the good news.

   2022 was also the year where I got to enjoy a lot of one-on-one outdoor time with Julian - at places like Bishan Park, Jacob Ballas children’s garden, or even just the neighbourhood playground. I got to longboard and he was riding his kick scooter. I even bought an used kick scooter to scoot together with him at the park. It’s such a joy for me to enjoy outdoor activities together with him. I know activities and memories like these are precious - not just for father and son bonding but also because children grow up so fast. (hence one of my favourite lines: Days are long, years are short)

2. Professional learnings, Career growth and First Work trip in……

   End of 2022 also marked the one year I have had at Shopify and what a work year it has been for me. It hasn’t been the easiest to say the least - the harsh external economic climate for tech companies, Shopify’s July layoff which impacted colleagues I worked closely with, pivot of my original job scope, change of team lead, learning new products and managing all the above in a 100% remote environment.

   What made this a highlight of my 2022 - was how my immediate team shaped out towards the 2nd half of the year, especially my lead. I am learning tons - both hard and soft skills - which I foresee will eventually pay off huge dividends in my career growth. I feel extremely fortunate - for I know the impact a great leader can have in one’s career.

   And to top it off, in October, I had my first ever work trip (and first overseas travel in 3 years) in…. Tokyo, Japan! It was my first trip to Japan - and this trip coincided with the beginning opening days of Japan’s border - i.e. it has not been swamped with tourists yet. This work trip worked out really really well - there were great learnings and sharings from all the business development teams in APAC. Beyond that, there was great bonding - trust batteries fully charged (in Shopify internal terms) - we were able to finally meet the names on Slack and Google Meet in-person; and empathize with one another’s challenges in our work. Rem - the context is Shopify is 100% remote company. And of course, Japan is beautiful - definitely won’t be the last time I’m there.

3. Football, BFT (BodyFitTraining) and Podcast

   I started playing football (5-a-side futsal) again in 2022 - and I loved it. It’s one of my great loves in life and I’m fortunate enough to still be able to enjoy it. (A lot of my peers stopped for various reasons - knee problems, torn ligaments, disapproving wife, etc.) I also acknowledge I’m fortunate that the group I play with plays decent passing football (well, most of them, that is).

   After my horrid time enduring Covid, I found myself relishing to be out and working out on a regular basis. “Working out makes me feel alive.” I researched and found a BFT (BodyFitTraining) studio near my place - and never looked back since. For starters, it is a similar concept to F45 - I prefer BFT. For one, I like the variety of classes - cardio and resistance/strength. I wished they have yoga too - but I can’t complain.

   And lastly, my podcast is getting some traction. I have had my podcast guests who say their friends reached out after listening to the podcast, strangers who reached out to get featured in my podcast, invite from a career mentoring group to be a panelist to discuss career transitions and growth; and also reach out from folks who needed help with career coaching which eventually turned to paid gigs. More are being planned for the podcast in 2023 - so stay tuned! (Subscribe to the mailing list to get latest updates and bonus career content)

   Have a healthy, happy and productive 2023!