It has been a minute.

The last time I published on Substack was on May the Fourth.

I was in Taipei, Taiwan at the time, staying with my parents, enjoying a pandemic free life. Now I’m back in San Diego, reorganizing my life here.

Many people seem to be leaving California. High taxes and high cost of living historically were outweighed by the great weather and job opportunities with the promise of fat six figure and greater compensation. The pandemic seems to have changed some of that calculus, especially if one does not own a home already, ideally bought, a long time ago, before the massive real estate market booms.

When living in a California, the idea of moving away seems to be a difficult to avoid consideration. I was having a conversation with one of my friends who left California recently, and he shared with me an interesting thought.

“Change always involves some form of destruction and creation… and those both require large amounts of energy.”

Reaching middle age, change is everywhere. The kids are leaving the nest, the parents are getting older, and time and energy feel increasingly scarce and precious.

I’ve been reflecting on changes throughout my lifetime.

“It’s been a long time.” has become “It’s been a minute.”

“No problem.” has become “No worries."

For the younger generations, it seems like there have been cultural changes as well.

“Bruh” has replaced entire sentences for the kids these days.

Desire for things has become desire for experiences, though I suppose they are kind of the same thing in many ways.

Life is a series of changes, and we either are creating or destroying, growing or decay, accumulating or discarding. We recently hired a tree service company to remove a few of the twenty year old trees that we planted when we first built our house.

Some changes are necessary. Deadwood needs to be removed.

What energy should be investing into what changes, and what energy should be focused on being present for the current moment, and enjoying it, with our friends, family, kids, parents? On art, entertainment, games, leisure? On work and projects?

Ultimately, there are only so many major moments that we have in our lifetime, and the nature of memory makes them feel like “it’s been a minute.” This highlights the fact that time appears to be an illusion and is a reminder to be present and mindful with our minutes and discerning with our energy.