Weekend Reflections 6-13-2021: Things On My Mind

Weekend Reflections 6-13-2021: Things On My Mind

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here, but I think it’s time to get back into it. After taking a hiatus, it’s easy to realize how much I miss blogging and putting random stuff out there on the internet.

My breaks have been intentional. It’s not like I am running out of things to say. Actually, it’s quite the contrary. I probably have too much to say, and not enough high priority time to share it– so I end up not publishing or sharing. It takes time to create, edit, optimize, and publish a blog post!

In the past, my weekend reflection posts were written with the intention of highlighting the work of others. But in this post, I’ll just share several things that are on my mind. And there’s quite a bit! To save time, I’m just going to create, write and publish. Minimal editing and no optimizing. I apologize in advance if it sounds like a bunch of jumbled word vomit. But here goes.

 

Balance

Achieving a good sense of balance is something that can be a challenge for most people. Balancing different priorities in life and finding that perfect equilibrium is a constantly moving target. Fortunately for me, it is something that I am decently good at.

There are many things that we balance and here are some of them that come to mind for me.

Work and Life

The concept of balancing work and life is interesting. You need to work to make money and you need money to live. So in order to achieve a good work-life balance it would make the most sense to work enough (and not a lot more) in order to finance a life that makes you truly happy and fulfilled. Sounds simple enough. But it’s not quite that easy. You first have to know yourself and what makes you truly happy and fulfilled without the influence of other people, the Jones’, advertisements, celebrities, the media, etc. That can be hard. But once you figure it out (and hopefully realize that you don’t need a whole lot to be happy and fulfilled), then it gets easier.

Finding work-life balance has been relatively easy for me. Being relatively frugal and sensibly minimalist, my ideal life is not super expensive. Of course I’m also blessed with a job that pays well beyond my basic wants and needs so that makes it even easier. Because of that, I continue to just work 40 hours a week and only pick up extra shifts to help colleagues in need.

Home Life: Husband, Dad, and Me

When I come home from work, I shed my identity as a physician and I assume my role at home as husband and dad. Balancing time between being a husband and dad while having adequate time for myself can be tricky.

I am a husband to a working attorney who always appreciates as much time as I can give her. At the same time, I am a dad to a three year old who needs a lot of quality time and attention too.

Fortunately, I have a lot of fun with my daughter and wife, so balancing my time and energy with them isn’t too difficult. And luckily I have enough time for myself too.

Private versus Public

I have considered being more public about who I am in blogging, social media, and other online outlets. While I know that I could potentially relate to and help more people by being more public and putting myself out there, I also like to safeguard my privacy too.

This is an ongoing debate on my mind. I’m still trying to find a comfortable balance between being more public but keeping a good degree of privacy. Perhaps in the future I’ll start posting pictures with my face and reveal my first name. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Living In the Moment versus Creating Stuff About the Past

I used to be more active in blogging and in social media. One of the reasons why I became less active is because a part of me felt that when I was creating content, too much time was spent thinking about the past and not so much on the present.

When blogging, I’m writing about a past experience that others could potentially learn from. Making an Instagram post is the same idea; I’m posting a picture from the past that could potentially educate or delight other people. It can be a lot of time thinking about the past. And it can also be a significant amount of time thinking about the future, especially if you’re wondering how many subscribed readers will read your post or how many of your followers will like a certain picture.

Creating stuff about the past for the purpose of educating and entertaining others is a good thing. But sometimes it comes at the expense of living in the moment and enjoying the present as a wonderful experience. Some readers and followers have messaged me to tell me that they miss my posts. I hear you. I’m still trying to figure out the right equilibrium and balance that makes me happy and fulfilled.

 

Podcasting

A few months ago, I started a podcast. The purpose of the podcast is to highlight local San Diego physicians within my large medical group and talk about all their passions outside of medicine that keep them balanced. Topics range the gamut from: personal finance, photography, ocean plastic picking, real estate, cryptocurrency, environmentalism, food, and more. One of my friends, Dr. Plastic Picker, was my first guest.

It’s not a podcast that is not publicly searchable, so you wouldn’t be able to find it or listen to it unless you are in the medical group and have access. Maybe one of these days the episodes will be made public for everyone who wants to listen.

Much to my surprise, I actually enjoy podcasting. It’s a lot of fun. I didn’t think I would enjoy it or be good at it because I don’t consider myself a stellar speaker, or at least a naturally gift speaker.

There are a few reasons I could think of that explains why I like podcasting so much. First of all, while podcasting is a form of speaking, my podcast is all about having a conversation with someone else, which is something I always enjoy. I actually like getting to know other people and hearing about their passions. Also, as the host I am rarely talking about myself, which I often don’t like to do. And finally, I people have told me that my presence makes uncomfortable people feel more comfortable and at ease. That definitely helps too.

 

Climate Action Advocacy

A few weeks ago, I underwent training to become a Climate Health Ambassador through Eco-America. I was invited to the training by Dr. Plastic Picker and I’m glad I took her up on the offer. I do have a passion for promoting planetary health and environmental causes so this is definitely up my alley.

I thought the training was very good and I left feeling like I can be a more effective advocate for the environment. One thing that the program encourages us to do is to commit to taking action by giving a speech or writing a blog post about climate change or a related topic.

My first action is writing a guest blog post for Ahimsa, a company founded by a pediatrician mom that makes non-toxic, plastic-free, stainless steel dinnerware for kids. I heard the founder, Dr. Manasa Mantravadi, speak at Peter Kim’s most recent Leverage and Growth Summit. While I was inspired by many of the speakers, I found her story compelling. My friend and fellow San Diegan Dr. Cherie Chu, founder of wellness pediatrician, introduced me to her and suggested that I should write for the Ahimsa blog. Well, one thing lead to another and a week ago I submitted a guest blog post to her. The post should be live some time next week. I’ll announce it here and on Instagram when it is live.

 

Financial Wellness at Work

At work, I am one of the leaders and project managers in the physician wellness committee. One of my projects was to create a Facebook group for physicians to foster a greater sense of community and collegiality which our massive medical group. It’s been a year since I’ve taken on that project and I think it’s been a huge success. My second project was creating a podcast to highlight our physician colleagues. As I mentioned earlier, I’m really enjoying the podcast and I think it is going well so far.

Another project of mine is to promote financial wellness and improve financial literacy for physicians in the group. Later this month, I will be part of a lunch and learn panel in which we discuss various financial wellness themes including: personal finance, investing, retirement planning, college funds, and alternative investments such as real estate and cryptocurrency. My specific role on the panel is to discuss personal finance and investing for early career physicians, a topic I am well versed and good at.

 

Credit Card Rewards, Points, and Miles

I’m still active in the world of credit card rewards, points, and miles. I’m a conscientious and conscious consumer who doesn’t spend a whole lot. But when I do make purchases, I try to maximize every transaction by earning massive amounts of credit card points.

It would be accurate to say that I unapologetically earn a lot of points and miles through credit cards. But a recent article made me feel somewhat guilty.  Do America’s poor really foot the bill for credit card points, miles, and cash back?

In my opinion, this isn’t entirely true. Yes, credit card companies do make money on late payment fees and unpaid balance interest. And a lot of this relies on taking advantage of financially irresponsible people and the people who make up “America’s poor” that spend more than their means and can’t pay off their balances in full or on time. But to say that these people are footing the bill for my credit card points is indirect logic at best. Me earning sign up bonuses and maximizing credit cards rewards on everyday purchases is not going to directly change the behavior and spending habits of other people. Frequent Miler has a good article discussing this topic.

Earning points

Speaking of Frequent Miler, it is one of the points and miles blogs that I consistently follow because it is pertinent and relevant to doctors (and other high income professionals) who want to earn a lot of points and miles. High income professionals have a lot of expenses (taxes being one of them), so it is great to leverage these expenses into earning a lot of rewards.

I recently signed up for another Amex Platinum business card (even though I already have one) after using a link in one of their articles. It was perfect timing because I am going to have to pay more than $20k in taxes in a few days. It’s always nice to earn a few rewards (in this case 150k Amex Membership Rewards points) when paying taxes.

 

Travel

What are credit card rewards, points, and miles good for anyway? Travel, of course!

Last month we did a lot of traveling. After the vaccines have rolled out earlier in the year, it’s amazing to see the covid case counts plummet and life return to some sense of normalcy. Restrictions are gradually being appropriately lifted and travel is storming back.

California Coast Trip

The first week of May we went on a road trip with my wife, daughter, and my wife’s parents up the California coast. It was beautiful and we all had a wonderful time. We were celebrating my mother in law’s 60th birthday.

It was the first time she had been to Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, Carmel, and she loved it all. We drove all the way up to San Francisco where we visited some of my wife’s family. My daughter did very well on the road trip, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Pacific Northwest Trip

A few weeks after, we went on an 8-day trip through the Pacific Northwest with my parents, my sisters, and their significant others. We flew to Seattle, rented a car, drove to Leavenworth and spent a few nights there, then drove down the Oregon coast to Portland and flew back home from there.

Some of the highlights in Seattle included being upgraded to a suite in our Seattle hotel (thank you, Hyatt Globalist!) and hiking through Discovery Park. Shout out to Butter Rice DDS for some awesome suggestions on what to do. The family also enjoyed Leavenworth and visiting the Reindeer Farm.

Oregon is a beautiful place with many highlights as well. Cannon Beach was amazing and my daughter had a terrific time running along the beach (see featured picture). We also had a great time in Portland visiting the rose garden, forest park, Pittock mansion, Columbia gorge, and Multnomah falls. The food was amazing too. Special thanks to M from Reflections of a Millennial Doctor for her amazing vegan food tips and recommended things to do.

Summer and Beyond

I’m not sure where we will go next. But we do have refundable business class tickets (for only 33,000 points!) to France and Croatia in the fall. Assuming it’ll be safe to go by then, I think it’ll be a fun trip!