2021-10-07

I was in a much darker place when I wrote this. I'm writing this preface months later, and choosing to put this out there knowing it doesn't reflect who I am now. But I am not far removed from these problems. I still feel them, and for those problems that are gone, I still feel their effects. But, in reading over this, I felt it was too important to not put out there. If you want to know how I'm doing now, read To Help Yourself that I thought deeply about and put to writing days after writing this.

But so we're clear: I feel passion for my work again. I am excited for my future. I am enjoying my hobbies. And I am fighting for myself. These feelings are fragile, and I don't know what direction they are taking me. But I am better now for the effort I have put into myself.

I feel like I no longer have

Foreword

I have exercised more or less at different points in my life, and my weight has swung to shocking highs and lows with that exercise or lack thereof. In February 2021, I decided to get a handle on my exercise practices with concentrated effort. However, as most people will tell you, deciding to exercise and actually exercising are different beasts. The trick I used to get into exercising regularly may not work for everyone, but it worked astonishingly well for me.

If you're gym-averse, I hope this guide can be helpful to you: it doesn't require going to the gym at all!

First Steps

Rely on the teachings of Atomic Habits: Create a mental trigger for a specific habit you already have, replacing it with going for a walk. I chose to respond to my feeling of boredom, but you could choose any specific habit you already have. Examples include if you snack often, or if you tend to doomscroll!

Once you've

The Pinephone, by Pine64

Preface

This phone is not yet in a position to replace your daily driver, especially if you own a flagship from the past three years or so. You will almost certainly need to tinker, connect a keyboard to fix something with, and encounter bugs ranging from inconvenient to debilitating. The battery life is improving with every batch of software updates, but it still doesn't last long. Putting mainline Linux on a phone is hard, and living with mainline Linux on your phone isn't much easier. The only phones the Pinephone could replace for an every-day user would be the supremely cheap Android burners available at Walmart.

My Pinephone

I purchased the higher-spec Beta Edition in March 2021, and it arrived in early May. It came pre-loaded with Manjaro running KDE Plasma Mobile. I would've liked to switch to Phosh (Librem's mobile UI, as I understand) and try that on Manjaro, but I found myself repeatedly frustrated with