Reflections on 26

As I celebrate my 27th birthday, I have been reflecting a lot on the past year, especially the moments that stretched me and shaped me in ways I did not expect. This year was the most transformative but also craziest year of my life. Breaktime bought and renovated a building, I ran my first marathon, and I had some of the best and worst experiences of my life along the way.

The biggest thing I learned this year was to take my personal goals even more seriously than my professional goals–something my brothers have taught me. As a doctor working in the Emergency Department, my brother Matt's day-to-day at work is fast-paced and draining. However, he always makes time to surf, train for ultra-marathons, and go on long walks with his dog, Luna, at the end of the day (or in the morning after night shifts). My brother Mark, on the other hand, picks a new hobby every year to focus on and commits countless hours to it. In the last few years, he has become an expert in snowboarding, longboarding, piano, magic tricks, and hiking. Mark and Matt have always shown me that, in order to retain balance in your life, you have to match the intensity of your commitment to your personal goals with the intensity of your commitment to your professional goals, especially when work gets tough.

In the past, I poured nearly all my energy into work. It came from a place of passion, but it also meant other parts of my life were often pushed aside. Breaktime will always have more to be done, more people to serve, more goals to reach - and it would be easy to let that lead to burnout. 

This is why I decided to run the Boston Marathon while in the middle of the building purchase process. In a way, I forced my own hand–setting an ambitious goal for myself so that I had to remain disciplined and committed to staying healthy and balanced outside of work. The hours on the road, from dark 5:30 a.m. runs to 20-milers on the weekend, forced me to reallocate energy to doing something fulfilling outside of work. I am not going to lie and say that this was not incredibly exhausting at times. Nevertheless, I am so glad that I pushed through those 1,000 training miles because that commitment reshaped my life in so many ways. Marathon training forced me to make room for personal commitments, not as an afterthought, but as an equal priority.

Outside of the marathon, I started treating other personal goals like I treat my professional ones: setting metrics, tracking progress, and checking in with myself quarterly. Portuguese lessons on the train, traveling to see friends and family, and improving my sleep routine became non-negotiables instead of second-tier priorities. I have learned that if you simply crash during your free time, work finds a way to take up more and more of your energy. 

I also learned that timing your personal commitments for when you have the most energy is vital. I used to always work out after work, which led to making excuses to skip my workout or cut it short most days because I was so exhausted. This year, I have been getting up at 5:30 am every day and making my workout the first thing I do. In doing so, I ensure that my personal fitness goals are reached, no matter what else happens in the day.

Finally, I learned that it's important to lock yourself into a personal commitment as far in advance as possible to ensure that you actually follow through with it. Last December, at the same time as Breaktime was closing on 63 Franklin St., I bought tickets for my brothers, sister-in-law, and me to see the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris in July. Once the summer finally came around, this purchase forced me to take time off and go on this once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list adventure with my siblings. If I had gone to buy these tickets in June, I would have come up with 1,000 reasons why I couldn't miss work the following month. Making this commitment eight months early forced me to make this trip a priority.

Overall, my 27th year showed me that balance comes not only from reallocating your time, but also reallocating your energy and the seriousness and discipline with which you treat your personal vs. professional goals. In this next year of my life, I am excited to continue to lean into this life lesson and find new ways to put my personal priorities front and center.