Apologies

Hi, All!

How’s life? 🌿

A few years back, I had the strange urge to write a testament. One part of this self-inflicted exercise included another self-inflicted exercise, me apologizing to all the people I had (knowingly) hurt, ever.

People I didn’t expect to reply, replied. Others didn’t. And with none did I repair any ongoing relationship.

But what did happen, is that through the act of apologizing, I was able to restore some sympathy for myself that I lost when hurting these people.

At the same time, I learned that apologies don’t have an expiry date and that they do help to restore the dignity, the parts that I scarred through my actions or words, of the ones on the receiving end.

And although an apology doesn’t justify being an asshole, apologizing when we sometimes fail not to be assholes is so much better than not admitting we were assholes in the first place.

At some point in my life, I do wish not to be an asshole at all. But, while I’m working on that, I’ll also be working on my apologies. In fact, I have a big one to make today. Don’t you?

Words

I published my favorite post of the year: Favorite Things 2019. This year around, I’m sharing the letters that got me teary-eyed, the best $100 I spent, my favorite new app, the book I recommended most often, an experiment I loved, my most memorable travel experience (and some other travel faves), the music album I played on repeat, practice friends were most excited about, and the quote I started 2018 with.

Code

Last year in October, as you may remember, I went into production with Wagon City Guides and shared the project with Wagon’s teachers (1000+ people). After a strategy adjustment, I shipped it again, and this time showed it to the rest of the community (7000+ people).

That’s how I ended up leading an open-source project by surprise, even though the project itself was part of the design. Other alumni have been sharing their favorite spots and also contributing with code. It’s been a lot of fun to see the app being used. And I look forward to keeping working on it as a side project.

Furthermore, I’ve been pair programming with my mentor Fede and doing Codewars challenges with others. I’d still like to do more of both, so if you’re interested, let’s code together (and please don’t worry about your skills whatsoever).

Lastly, I’ll be teaching for Le Wagon Singapore in February. And I’ve started looking for a new project for 2020, so if you have anything in mind, here’s my resume. (It’s my first resume in eight years, so it’s kind of a big thing.)

Quote That’s Been On My Mind

We don’t have to try and be kind. We just have to stop being unkind. –Headspace

With love,
Mirha
🦖