$10k/m income-versary

So it’s been slightly over a year now since we got past survival stage and hit ~$10k/month.

It felt like it was just yesterday. I was so relieved back then:

I made it.
I made it.

Through the massive career change.
Through starting from bank account zero.
Through beginning anew from newbie status.

Damn. That was hard.
But I made it.

Next: To make things easier, more efficient, more effective. So that I can carve out more and more time for product work.

I had made it. Now, one year on, what changed?

• No more newbie anxiety. Feeling more steady in my frontend dev role.
• Finally dropped all my design thinking opportunities, and changed my LinkedIn.
• Income stabilized, no new work opportunities but current work was steady. But AI risk grows, for real. And the economy and geopolitics keeps worsening.
• I’ve definitely got more efficient and effective with my 4 jobs on 14h work days. Yet unable to ship new projects. Motivation had been unreliable.
• Managed to save! So happy to see my bank account start growing again, although slowly, and still far from what it used to be.
• More disposable income on simple luxuries like taking a cab (versus train everywhere with a sleeping toddler).
• We travelled quite a bit last year. A bit of post-COVID revenge travel. Had more fun for sure.
• Even dared to make huge family plans for relocation during the year. A new finish point to aim for, after surviving survival.
• But yet, still (emotionally) stuck in survival mode. Looks like the trauma of not making it with a family on my back takes some time to heal from. Having to hustle for our relocation plans won’t help with recovery.

Things are better now.
But things can get worse quickly.
What got me here won’t get me there.
Anniversary ain’t no time to celebrate.
Rest is a luxury. Stopping is a death sentence.

Gotta build the plane while falling.