What was the biggest contributor to your happiness in the past year?

Video walks on Youtube. If you haven't heard of them before, they're simple first-person videos where the filmer walks around some area with a stabilized video camera - no talking, just walking. I've really missed traveling and watching video walks while exercising has been a great way to satisfy that travel craving a bit and also trick my brain into experiencing some semblance of normalcy (not sure I could remember what a crowded street feels like otherwise haha).

I'm partial to Japan so my favorite channel has been Rambalac [1], and I recently also started watching another channel with the very creative name JAPAN 4K [2]. There are tons of other channels and places too, for example I recently watched a few in Lisbon [3] and Seoul [4] and Copenhagen [5]. They're very relaxing and fun to watch and going from place to place with no cuts captures the usual tourist experience quite well. If you like traveling you can probably find some that are interesting to you!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/Rambalac/videos

[2] https://www.youtube.com/user/keikaikeikaikeikai/videos

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXlFDpaQ1ec

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj7l0Xk0Ho

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl69sN5PtgM

Working from home. I realised being in an office - especially an open-plan office - was setting off my social anxiety all the time. Working in a place where I could choose to engage with people instead of having it forced upon me made it so much easier to work. I became a lot more productive and started enjoying what I did, even picking up more side projects and learning actively. It's a shame it's coming to an end, and I can't seem to find many places that are going to remain remote.

Transitioning my gender. Living my truth. Coming out to everyone in my life and being forced to confront the shame that held me back for decades.

It took a lot of reflection and was cause for a lot of growth. But now I'm not only mentally happier, I'm taking better care of my body because it finally feels like it's my own.

Buying a home. But not for any of the typical reasons.

If you told me back in February that I'd buy a home in 2020, I'd have told you to get lost. I lived alone in a small apartment, with a "necessities" mentality, and homeownership was on my radar for 5-10 years out. Why invest in exercise equipment when I go to a gym, a decent WFH setup when I work in an office, or kitchenware when most of my meals are eaten at work or meetups? Why buy a home, if I seem to just use home for a place to sleep?

The pandemic rapidly changed that mentality. "Necessities" was now synonymous with "going without".

The straw that broke the camel's back was the big trees out back being chainsawed down all day over three days (they needed to; they were hanging out by a transmission line). That changed the view from my porch from something resembling nature (and for much of the pandemic, that was my "nature"), to industrial buildings puking out vapor.

So I didn't buy a home for a partner, pets, kids, or otherwise - I still have none of those. But my overall health has increased considerably by having a backyard that won't change unless I want it to, a small home gym to prevent dropping even more muscle, a dedicated office space to delineate when WFH starts and ends, and an open-plan kitchen. And with the interest rates the way they are, I figure I've just saved future-me a ton of money anyway.

My wife and kids. I'm 50 and re-evaluating friendships outside the home. I have realised that most of my friendships are not mutual. I stopped contacting most of my friends over 9 months ago and have not heard back from most for 6 months to never.

My own family experience wasn't great. I now realise to have a wife who actively cares for you, looks out for you, is probably the most meaningful thing that can happen to you in your life. I am going to invest a bit more effort in my own family and a little less on fringe friendships.

I "retired" at 33 after working in tech for 12 years and saving a ton of money. With my free time I run a fun hobby business teaching kayaking which is way more fun and brings me way more happiness than anything I did in 2019 or before.

Acknowledging the damage inflicted by an abusive past partner.

I'm able to say "this is something that happened to me" and address it as such -- It isn't a thing I push to the back of my brain to deal with later, or an isolating trauma I'm afraid of losing friends over, or an overshadowing fixation I'm worried has changed me.

It's in the front row now, being processed piece by piece.

Over the past year I've been initiating more conversations with friends, opening up more, and taking much better care of myself. I feel better; I feel happier, and the trajectory is set for that to continue.

Quitting porn.

At age 45, having been addicted since first finding I could download over 1200 baud dialup on my parents phone line and watching Cinemax late night through the static, it has just been a thing in my life almost daily and honestly I'd given up on caring whether it was a bad thing or not.

I'd felt guilty about it sometimes, and sure, tried to quit on a number of occasions, but always ended up back within a week or two.

Finally one day early last year I just decided to quit, and for whatever reason, that time it worked. And even though day to day I don't think it's made any objective change in my life, every time I think about it, I'm so happy to be done with it.

Without a doubt:

1. My puppy. We moved out of a studio apartment with my ex in a town I didn’t know, back to my city and into a house of our own two weeks before everything shut down. In the last year we’ve bonded incredibly, and weathered the worst of the last year together in a way that would have been incredibly difficult without her. We wake up every day to snuggles and a special day’s greeting, and wind down every night squished up on the couch. I carry her to bed most nights, not because she needs carrying but because it feels so sweet to end the night that way.

2. I quit a job that was burning me out and spent 5 months building the start of a living art project which reinvigorated my creative mind and my love of the tech craft. It’s just started but I have a zillion things I plan to do with it, and it’s the first ambitious project I’ve been able to follow through on in years.

Getting COVID.

I've just turned 30 and I used to do a lot of cardio exercise. Over the past few years as other things have taken priority, I cut back. I'd try to do something every day but would often miss days and the workouts would be short and poor quality.

After getting (fortunately mild) COVID I was worried about cardiac issues when I resumed exercise. I decided to buy an Apple Watch to monitor my heart rate and use the ECG functionality.

A few months later, and the big thing I have learned about myself is how well I respond to "gamification" of habits. I now HAVE to close my exercise rings every day, and it's immensely gratifying to track my overall health improving - I did not realise how out of shape I really was. I'm sleeping better, a lot more productive, my mood has increased significantly, and overall I feel much better in myself.

It's also lead to me using other "habit forming" apps (I use "Streaks" - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/streaks/id963034692) to change things I don't like about myself and generally become a better person.

Overall, I've learned a lot about myself and how I'm motivated.

Such a pandemic cliche: making sourdough bread.

Takes all day. Took about 3 or 4 tries until I got the hang of it. Now I make two loaves every weekend. Tastier than anything I've bought at a store.

Started with Serious Eats: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2020/07/how-to-make-sour...

Settled at Tartine Country Bread: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016277-tartines-country...

Makes me happy every time.

Buying a pen plotter last summer was one of the best decision for a while. As I start my journey into programming with generative art, using macromedia director and processing, I always wanted to be able to create my on physical prints. So for the last months I got back to have fun writing code in my spare time. Some examples: https://twitter.com/eskimobloood/status/1366300689652187140 https://twitter.com/eskimobloood/status/1285159611599933441 https://twitter.com/eskimobloood/status/1373317198119370753

My son's daycare closed permanently almost a year ago, and my wife and I had to adjust to have a 3 going on 4 year old at home with us 24/7. While it hasn't been easy, it's been a joy watching him grow over this past year, having time to bond with him (generally he favours his mom), and to have greater insight into who he is becoming as a person.

It has been a difficult time for everyone, but I honestly believe that this will be formative time not just for him, but for my wife and I, and one that we will look back upon fondly.

I retired (after getting diagnosed with incurable cancer). I was a workaholic and never thought I could quit so easily, but after quiting I don't miss work and I'm a lot happier (despite the cancer thing). If you are obsessed with work and in a position to take a few months off, please consider doing this. It may change your perspective.

Staying away from the startup hustle and city life.

I have been constantly disturbed by the chase in the startup system. Building up something out of own passion is one thing, but trying to act like the investor-led founders has been driving me crazy for years.

I live a village life now, do much less software work. Have dialed down my ambitions and I am actually very happy. I do feel that my skills, acquired over 15 years, are less used, but that regret does not last long when I take a trip around the neighboring hills (I live in a Himalayan territory).

Getting a nice car.

I’m prone to depression if I stay in the house too long.

Having a nice car means when I roll out of bed in the morning, I’m able to head straight to a nice, comfortable, private, warm space and start listening to meaningful podcasts, audiobooks, get breakfast, head to the gym, and get a consistent good start on the day.

I’m not sure if I can go back to city living at this point if it means giving up a car.

Starting each day with 20 minutes of the type of meditation espoused here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaNO09cPS6c

In terms the more scientifically-inclined will understand: everything that is outside your current, immediate perception is a simulation in your mind and therefore is both inaccurate and prone to reflect your hopes and fears (especially fears). Simply dialing down those mental simulations of the past, future and distant places can significantly relax you.

We all thought that my dad was going to die from covid19. The doctors were very pessimistic. He lived. He recovered very slowly over the last 4 months. During the first month, he could not speak English (he was born in Norway), he needed 3 liters per minute of oxygen, and he could not stand up. Now, he has no trouble speaking, does not need oxygen, and he can walk 300 yards if he has a walker. Every month he has improved.

Buying a dishwasher.

1. Less drudgery means more time to relax

2. Less pressure to minimise kitchenware use means more ambitious and enjoyable cooking

3. I just get a little jolt of happiness when I walk into the kitchen and see my large cuboidal son sitting there

Probably two things:

Intrastate travel. Main line of work (web) stalled but I picked up a solid amount of drone photography/videography work that allowed me to get paid travelling more than usual around the state. Australia has been in a good position with regard to COVID-19 which obviously helped, but I did get a few travel jobs during only-travel-for-work lockdowns.

In the last 12 months, I've visited every sub-region of the state, been paid to go on a 10 night cruise, worked on a TV commercial, made decent money camping with my kids a handful of times, etc. One of the best years of my life and I feel especially fortunate knowing how rough others around the globe have had it in comparison.

Perhaps bigger than that though: a solid relationship. It's so valuable that no matter what else is going on (heavy workload, dealing with the kids, etc) that your partner has your back and vice versa. Very reassuring coming home knowing that you are a team against everything you face.

Hands down, seeing people face to face. I have really discovered how much it means to me. I have been ambivalent about it because of social anxiety and low self esteem, but I have realized that in reality nothing else comes close in terms of raising my mood and giving me good feelings.

Spending time with my children. Work from home enabled that (as did liberal leave policies from work because of the pandemic). However, WFH also made my work much less effective and took away a lot of the joy from my job. I normally do about half desk work and half lab work plus lots of interacting with colleagues which has become less effective with WFH. And I have no dedicated office space at home, so WFH office work was also a challenge compared to my dedicated office at work (and my commute was only like 15 minutes and doesn’t have traffic to speak of, so it isn’t stressful).

But I will cherish spending more time with my children. It was a special time and a special age for them, too, where being stuck at home was less of a problem than it would’ve been if they were older.

Getting a dog. I used to swear I never wanted a dog, I was a cat person. My wife wore me down, talked me into getting a sweet little Shiba Inu pup. She’s been my little ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak world. Yubaba is now second only to my wife as my favorite thing in the world.

Honestly, getting up to let her out in the morning put me on a far more regular schedule. Taking her on walks gets me out of my office during the day and has done more than anything else to bust me out of the funk I was in.

WFH.

I take my dog on a walk during standup.

I hang out with my kids when I can step out of the office.

I recently started exercising over lunch (this habit was never easy for me- it took getting Ring Fit Adventure on Nintendo Switch to start that).

I saved 15000 miles on my car’s odometer.

——

Reconnecting with old friends from HS/college. We normally do a march camping trip every year. Not in 2020. Instead, We set up a discord server, and a Friday night video call on most nights for almost a year.

——

Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators. So much fun.

Might sound wrong but pandemic. The world had to become more introverted which i like.

I take my German Shepherd on a 3+ mile walk every other day. I’ve been doing this for a few months now and it’s usually the highlight of my day. I love her so much.

Spending more time outside, particularly in rural settings. I to used to be a couch/desk potato. Habitually spending time out in the green either walking, running, cycling or just digging stuff in the garden has made me happier and healthier.

Listening to Sarah Coponat play piano on Twitch. Her live, epic, flowing improvisation is the perfect companion to the workday.

https://www.twitch.tv/sarahcoponat

Friends. The initial ~2 months of fear and complete isolation, (seeing only my partner in person) showed me how much I needed other relationships. When I started participating in small gatherings or visiting the office it was absolutely liberating. And because of the pandemic it was quality over quantity, so I became closer to the people I already knew.

I used to be an introvert for most of my life and in the last few years I've been taking it back, learning to manage this part of life. It's common that people have less friends as they get older. At 28 I already feel it and I don't want to let it happen, ready to put in the effort. It's all so much more interesting when you're surrounded by [the right] people.

2.5 day work week. Peak performance on those days at a decent daily rate, then I get to fuck around on whatever for the rest of the week. Wednesdays are my fridays.

Moving from Amsterdam to the rural Irish countryside where I can escape to the hills on the mountain bike or road bike each day. It's done wonders for my mental health.

The people in a country that has outsized influence in the country I live in came to their senses and voted out their leader.

Other than politics my 11-year old son understanding the Roblox API, and 8-year old daughter topping her class in reading and spelling.

Moving to a new place with a view of a river instead of a parking lot. Thought it’d quickly just feel like the new normal, but there is something calming about flowing water.

Leaving (~Western) Europe. The last year made it clear that I'm not compatible with its values and priorities, and I'm now going to live in places that aren't living museums.

It's freed up a lot of mental space which has been phenomenal.

My blood pressure dropped 40 points when I left my military job. People talk about serious F U money. After you offload stress like that it come very clear that serious F U money is a much lower amount than you previously considered.

- Paying close attention to nature. I've seen thousands of cool creatures I would previously have missed, and logged a lot of them on iNaturalist so it is also contributing to citizen science (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_i...)

- My wife and family. Without much opportunity to see anyone outside our bubble these close relationships have become even more important and special.

- Dialing back on work. Or, inversely, trying to work too hard was the biggest negative contribution to my happiness, and lowering commitments then eventually quitting entirely for a complete break has been a big help.

Accept that I didn't need a regular job like everyone else.

I abandoned my fear of being an entrepreneur and embraced the idea.

I lowered my cost of living, valued my skills, and started freelancing to pay the bills while I try to build something.

My best decision so far. Ironically today I work a lot more, but the realization of doing something with my time aligned with my dreams makes all the difference.

Got an eMTB 8 month ago, visited places in my local area that didn’t even know existed. No weather is too bad for going outside for a ride anymore. Cops stopped me once asking what I was doing outside on a bike in freezing rain, suspected drug smuggling.

1. the birth of my kid

2. taking care of her

2.5. moving to Tenerife

3. taking a side project to 30k MRR in less than 6 months. a lot of motivation to stay up in the evenings came from my kid for sure

4. starting a project purely for fun this month - https://cassandraai.reddit.com

5. Starting a little garden in my backyard

Geocaching! Finding my first geocache was the defining moment of the past year for me. It's the perfect quarantine activity, and what's more is that there are geocaches everywhere. Anytime I go somewhere new (or places I've been but haven't geocached) I check the geocache app. It's the perfect way to rediscover your city/town.

Some of the geocaches are incredibly clever too. Just yesterday I found a geocache on a hike. The hike was in the high desert (sagebrush mostly) where there was a lot of debris (ancient rusted cars, shotgun shells, wood pallets, etc). I was having trouble finding the cache which was GPS-ed next to a felled tree, when I noticed two shotgun shells, one yellow, one red, pushed inside each other, on the ground near the log. I thought to myself that's weird, someone was sitting on this tree log futzing with empty shotgun shells, then I continued my search. I would have overlooked it if it weren't for the hint: "blends in". Sure enough, the cache was inside the two shells! I was the 3rd person to ever find it. Very satisfying!

Taking the train to work (and actually working in the office again).

I need my 1 hour trek back and forth to build barriers between home and work.

Garden. I planted a ton of veggies in 3 raised beds and really enjoyed caring for the garden and picking fresh food. I wouldn’t say it was cheaper than the grocery, but probably cheaper than therapy. I code from a home office, so the green time was great for headspace and breaks.

Living at farm and working remotely. I have found happiness and inner peace from the solitude and the lack of resources which I have been consuming without much thought.

Having a Discord server with friends. On weekends there’s almost always someone on playing some game and I can pop in and chat for a bit. As an extrovert it’s been a really meaningful outlet to stay connected during the pandemic. Plus with fast internet speeds you can basically emulate a local LAN by streaming each other’s games and watching a bit while you play your own.

I have two small children. Working from home made it possible to spend more time with them.

Some time ago the company that I work for started doing all kinds of socializing - both online and offline (in a month or two). For the first time in my life I wrote my boss and told him that I will not participate in any of this as it is outside of work hours. I don't have the time for some online game at 1900 hours. I have to spend time with my kids. Also I really don't want to socialise outside of work. Talking to me co-workers during a coffee break is more than enough.

Fixing chronic shoulder pain. My resting heart rate at night dropped by about 15 points in the week after an intense therapy session.

Working from home. I'm not going back.

* Got my private pilot certificate.

* Built a homemade paddleboard out of western red cedar.

For me it was three things:

I was already working from home most of the time, but it becoming full time provided more flexibility.

Increasingly over time, I reduced my actual working hours (being lucky enough to do so) without a pay cut. I know I’m not getting pay rises anytime soon. So it seemed appropriate that I spend lesser time working.

I started exercising regularly, and have included at least one yoga session everyday towards the end of the day. I practice for 30-45 minutes by watching someone’s instructions (either an app or video). I don’t know when I’ll drop the regular practice, hopefully not soon. Next on my list is to make meditation a daily practice.

If there’s one piece of advice I could give people about work, it is that there’s always tomorrow and next week and next month and next year to do it. There are many other things that could matter more in life.

Lexapro & Adderall.

Which enabled me to rediscover my desire to innovate and learn.

SpaceX

StarHopper, StarShip, StarLink, 28 Falcon launches (114 total), 26 landings, caught the fairing, ...

Could never have imagined such a prolific space endeavor.

Walking my dog. It's my most consistent habit, not super intense but involves movement, nature, responsibility, socialization. We do about 90 mins daily, and it's a good chill time to carry pencil and a waterproof notepad and sketch ideas, make lists etc

LSD without a doubt. It has lifted me from a depression, improved my relationships, a pure sense of joy in ans out. Feeling again connected with this world. I'm alive because of it.

Intermittent Fasting + Meditation. A bit difficult to explain but bear with me. Imagine you wake up one day to a rumbling tummy (happens when you do IF). I noticed that such sensations would lead me to a bad mood. It's a subtle process but one day it clicked that I was "inventing" stories in my head to account for the physiological reactions in my body (due to hunger etc.) . Take it to its logical conclusion and you'll realise that this happens with other sensations, too. Now I am a lot more conscious of sensations (especially the "negative" ones) and it has made me happier and calmer :). The WFH helps maintain IF + meditation schedules, too!

The church, keeps me connected virtually to hundreds of people despite a year of strict lockdown in Melbourne.

Remote Jackbox party games were pretty therapeutic during the pandemic.

Spending the vacation budget (and quite a bit of savings) on improving the household amenities, entertainment options, and everyone's hobbies.

We just got back from our first post COVID vacation and it was truly hellish--I'd gladly take being stuck in a multi bedroom house vs hours in a vehicle. Additionally, all the perks of being on vacation were either still absent because of COVID or paled in comparison to what we had back at home.

I think COVID will have a long lasting impact on what I value in this world. I'd rather just spend time with people I care about, doesn't really matter where.

Self-learning wing-foiling (when you're on the lake, being 6 feet from someone means dangerously close to a collision, so "social distancing" is natural...), kinda as an excuse to spend some time outside, move, generate endorphins and not think about other things (winds at my place are usually nothing to write home about, so actual foiling happened just a couple days).

Also some trekking and reddit's r/bodyweightfitness "recommended routine" ~once a week.

Those things didn't "always work" to lift my mood, to make it clear, but there were notably many times when they did. Esp. wingfoiling in the summer :)

Moving to a nicer location.

About two and a half years ago I moved to Cambridge (UK) for work. Despite my salary on paper being significantly higher, I could only sensibly afford a flat on the edge of the city due to ridiculously high living costs. I still ended up with less money after all bills and essentials were paid for. The flat was also the worst in the area. It was infested with cockroaches (little European ones, but still awful to live with). Previously I lived in a flat I could comfortably afford right on the edge of a city which is nicer than Cambridge.

Despite this, I couldn't bring myself to move out of the city. I was accustomed to the city life: the convenience of having everything right there on my doorstep. The first step was realising I did not have the city life any more. Living on the edge of Cambridge is as good as being outside it, but at twice the cost and the pleasure of living right next to a major motorway. But the other difficulty was commuting. If I moved I would essentially be saving money but paying it right back through hours stuck in traffic every morning and evening. COVID was a blessing. Now it's possible to work from home I can have the best of both world. I can live further away from work knowing that I won't have to commute every day and I'm no longer pissing money down the drain on a shit flat in a shit location.

It's a small thing actually.

Despite the theory, here in Belgium we have had only one real lock down, and that was two weeks in April 2020. The relentless car traffic was gone and there were no planes.

As a consequence, the sky turned a shade of blue I (and others) only remembered from my childhood.

Sadly this was short lived as the many further lock downs were mostly just paper pretends, with so many "exceptions" that it was near impossible to distinguish road traffic volume and structural traffic jams from their pre-covid times.

Working from home, (far) more birds in my garden because less planes and less cars, fiction reading (took a break for 10 years, now back to 2 books/day), reading while walking in the empty forest, walking 10km/day.

Guess the biggest is the walking and reading at the same time.

Working from home.

Every job I've ever worked, my teams have been split across countries so transitioning to working from home was fairly seamless for me, because I've always operated under the assumption that not everyone is in one spot.

But it meant tons of things:

* I get to sleep longer which has helped my epilepsy greatly

* I am not spending 3-4 hours a day commuting which means I spend more of my time being productive

* I can spend some of that time walking my dog and cooking meals for my wife, so I'm healthier now than I was.

* Seeing my wife and dog for more of my day is just pleasant.

* Being able to listen to music and work on things consistently without being bothered in person, since most of our communication is over slack now.

* Since communication has moved to slack for impromptu stuff, it means I can interact with far more people in the company than before.

* not commuting to meetings. Whether that's down the hall, in another building or across town. I no longer have to spend my time in between meetings trying to rush to the next one.

* Being able to work during meetings. Honestly most meetings don't require a person to be involved for the entire duration. So as long as I pay attention, I can continue doing other low attention things in the background. Like kicking off builds and debugging smaller things. Earlier they'd eat into my non meeting time, but now I can do more things in parallel.

I’ve bought rollerblades in May and learnt how to skate having never skated in my life before.

Can do 180 now and going down the stairs now.

Learning a new trick every few weeks is energising - I almost forgot how easy it is to learn how do do something by just paying enough attention to the lessons.

Waking up without an alarm clock. It's the single best productivity boost I got this past year.

And yes: when I'm productive, I'm happy. When I'm happy, I'm productive.

realizing I do not need a romantic relationship in order to be a "complete person". took me many decades to get here and learning was painful. glad I am here though

Gigabit internet, cheap hard drives, and cheap 36-bay SATA 4U servers.

It turns out I like having a private library and playing home librarian. It brings me a lot of joy.

Taking short windows of time to breathe and not think about anything at all. Unrelenting sources of daily stress - even small ones in the back of your head - prevent you from ever releasing the big stuff and throw a shade over everything else in your life. Spending 30 minutes sitting outside, with zero expectations or stressful thoughts allowed, can turn my entire day around. Sometimes multiple days.

1) growing vegetables. I haven't done much for a few years, and I have loved setting up a no dig system at my new allotment. My house is full of seedlings. I think growing from seed, and seeing a plant develop helps you feel that time is moving on.

2) Since I am setting up from scratch, but know something about what I'm doing I am in a pretty privileged position. I started to document my thought process and write a blog at https://watchingplantsgrow.com. Then I soon remembered that I a) suck at design and b) prefer writing to design. So I just paid someone a small amount of money to design it nicely. I have a few unpublished blogs ready to go up when it is live. I know we like text blogs here, but I think a gardening site needs pictures. One of the struggles with gardening is knowing when to do stuff, so I am starting a newsletter where I can say what I am sowing this week. Maybe some people will find it useful (in the Northern hemisphere!)

Happiness? What happiness? :'(

Leaving my job in tech to start a small business making a physical product.

I realized that the abstractions of remote work and software itself were wearing in me. It's nice to be back in the material world.

Getting a fully remote job. Gave me the flexibility to leave the city and buy a home near my friends and family more in the "rural" areas of the country. Did not enjoy living in the city with a new baby, not one bit. The more close-knight community life, slower-pace and more flexible work-life balance is much more my style.

My new born son.

Remote working allowed me to spend time with him in his early month. And this is priceless.

Living in a safe and homogeneous country. I don't have to worry about being mugged or beaten while talking a walk. I don't have to worry about random episodes of violence. I don't have to worry about protesters burning and looting my home. After 2020 I realized I took this for granted for way too long.

Living in a neighborhood I like, within viewing distance of the mountains, walking distance to my favourite cafes, deli, gym, and hiking in those mountains with my gf and other friends. Nearing another whole year with zero work, and it's only financially shitty.

Listen my good man. Life is short. Realize that first. It will make some choices much easier.

I tend to use a life barometer, where I set my expectation for how long i hope to live.

From there on i try to make some choices. Not right of the bat. I use some time to stabilize the thoughts to pinpoint the near exact feeling i wish to obtain.

I have during the last 10 years found out by doing this that my ultimate feeling for being happy is freedom as a state of mind.

I use 20-30% of time sailing my sailboat and riding my bike. I sleep at least 7 hours every day and work 5-6 hours a day.

I run a small consultancy company and hope i can do so until i am at least 70. I like to work, not hard, but towards goals which are not bound on pitential financial gains.

Live your life and take it in.

Wife gave birth to a healthy child.

Eating organic fruits (directly from trees, or on the ground). The pleasure is decoupled because you need to search for them, riding kilometers, it's not always easy, and they're so much more nutritive than the ones in supermarkets

Did a marriage course with my wife. Very helpful wish we had done it a decade earlier!

going out for a walk daily. usually between 4000 and 12000 steps. Even when it was cold.

I know it’s not great health advice, but smoking a cigar during my walk motivated me to do it. was more enjoyable/interesting given the repetitive walk destinations around. plus it has a bit of a calming or meditative aspect to it for me. The senses, flavours, ritual etc.

Not working for several months.

Nothing else ever worked so much wonders for my mental health as this.

I got so much closer to my young kids this year. I didn’t quite realize how many precious moments I’d already lost by having to spend time at an office every day. (I had a somewhat flexible work schedule before this, but being around them all the time was just orders of magnitude different.) We started playing nightly family games during lockdown last March: card games, board games. I watched the entire ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ series with them over the winter. It’s been such a silver lining of all of this.

Off the top of my head, online co-op gaming with friends a few hours a week.

Conversely, many of the things I see people list haven't worked for me. Working out has never made me feel good. I hate it always and it's a chore/slog to get through and I often want to quit in the middle. I feel a tiny sense of accomplishment for having worked out but I don't feel noticeably better or different than when I didn't workout. And yes, I'm working out every day. Sweat like crazy. etc...

Someone mentioned going for walks which I do, 1-3 miles a day. There are parks near where I live. I think going out is better than being stuck inside but before the pandemic I walked most places and took public transport so my total walking is probably below what it was before the pandemic. Further, walking just to go outside does not feel as good as walking to some destination. It feels more like a chore/maintenance. I do it because it's supposed to be good for me. Where as before I did it because it got me to a lunch, a dinner, a meetup, work, a store, etc.

A friend of mine says she gets high from running. She said literally "high" not just spiritually high. I ask her how long before running stopped hurting (it hurts when I run). She said 2 years! I don't think I can take it on faith that if I put up with the pain for 2 years it might stop.

I fully miss working at the office with my co-workers, having lunch with them, talking to them during work hours, getting dinner after work sometimes. Will be sad and likely suicidal if after the pandemic everything is WFH.

Making vegetable soup, and giving it to friends.

Surprisingly - my burnout.

It came one day, out of the blue and broke me in two pieces. Thanks to the great human empathy in my company (and their support) I went through it without too much problems.

It taught me that I am not invincible and that I should listen to my body more. I am not 20 anymore.

I voluntarily scale down my professional scope and my title, to concentrate on the things I have an actual influence on. I am documented all the points that fell in the gray area (= I was "responsible" for, without any possibility to change things) and I will stubbornly go that way.

It will ultimately be a win for the company as well, forcing it to sort out loose ends (at least in my area).

I live in France so it was made easier by the socialist regulations (socialist as in "enhanced social protections"), as well as the real, human empathy of my management - beyond what is expected from a company.

Organizing a weekly drop-in zoom call for guys who are mostly over 65 and into their 80's, taking on a second side gig helping an interesting startup work on the problem of how to scale direct anonymous attestation, discovered analog synthesizers.

I chose to actively manage my happiness years ago, so these are just the new things from this year. What I have found is that personal freedom and satisfaction with work expands with the number of different clients you have.

Studying Russian. What a beautiful language and culture. I just love to listen about Russian culture and history. Their museums have wonderful social media channels.

Tinkering with machines always keeps me happy, and has kept me sane over the past year. Specifically antique clocks and watches, and older sports cars, but any old machine will keep me busy. Neighbor gave me a broken snow blower and I spent a fun weekend ripping it apart and getting it running again, just in time for a big snow storm to play in. And I've got an old typewriter that I've been saving for a rainy day too.

Having a kid born in the middle of the pandemic and work from home situation is amazing. In no other time would a working western father spend so much time with his young child.

Reconnecting more and more with religion (Judaism in my case.) To say it plainly, religion represents millennia of people asking deep questions and struggling through answers, which is more honest than the alternative. Though the above sentences would make zero sense to me a few years ago, so I wouldn't expect them to sway anyone who isn't ready there.

I also developmed an even deeper appreciation for society, capitalism, and technology. The fact that we have reliable electricity, water and internet here in NY, can go rent a car, can buy fruit on the street at 3am - all these things are modern miracles.

Our first child.

Born last June. Working from home with a baby there too for most of the time has been quite OK actually, much better than expected. Since the pandemic hit we have both been working from home (I already was working remote) and I can't imagine coming home from work at eg. 17:30 and then the kiddo going to bed at ~19 so I would only see him for a short while.

Without, the pandemic would have been much much harder to bear.

Quick yoga in the morning.

The first thing I do, 2-4 times a week, is to roll out the mat and do a 10-30 minute yoga session. There are hundreds of free yoga videos on YouTube, with some experienced teachers. You don't even need that many different ones, I re-use the same dozen or so. There's something about the familiarity of re-doing the same movements that really makes you concentrate.

Mind and body feel better afterwards.

As silly as it is at my age, the weekly D&D game I run. After taking a hiatus from gaming for almost a decade, about a year before the pandemic I bought the newest edition books on a whim and got a game together. It's the highlight of my week. I feel pretty good considering all the folks playing in the game have been impacted by COVID in some way (ER Nurses, National Guardsmen) and they have all told me at various times that the game keeps them sane.

Going back to school has been great too. Many years ago I was told I would never make it as a programmer and I should never even attempt Computer Science (great academic advisors I tell you). Well, I finally decided I was sick of people telling me what I am capable of and after being a programmer for the last 12 years I decided I wanted that CS degree. Not because I somehow think it will change my work life much, but because I want the personal knowledge and growth. Needless to say I have enjoyed everything I've been learning and the things I was told would hold me back haven't even once been an issue.

In IT, changed career goals to a less demanding role, including a new team, manager, etc. Its amazing how refreshing a change like that can be.

Last semester I finished a gradutate course as an external student in the statistics program of the best university in the country. I have a goal of getting into grad school this year, but I'm old-ish (30 yo in april). The fact that i was able to be one of the best grades (if not the best) really made me happy.

I struggle with the idea of going to grad school for a while now. My family gives me zero support and during the years where I was younger and could focus solely on getting, my parents had a massive divorce, which didn't help me at all. I don't test very well, and the entrance exams tend to be tough. Even though I switched areas after those years (I wanted to ge into economics and now statistics) I feel a bit more confident in my math skills. With the added maturity of a few years, I think I can manage getting in without my parent's support.

I only have to not drop the study habbits. But it is hard with work from home and the depression vibes my country is in (Brazil, btw).

1. Able to work in backyard on a beautiful day with kids playing around me in the summer. Loved it. 2. I had home gymn but never used much and now making good use of it. 3. Food automation: This was something big. We used to sepnd a lot of time cooking fresh food. Most of time spent is on the prep. I hate washing many dishes after every meal. Dishwasher helps but pig pots and pans, need to be done by hand. Then I found a solution. We made a sauce/paste from onion,jalepenos, garlic and 7-8 spices.Then anytime we want to cook, use this sauce to beans, chicken, minced meat, rice and under 10 minutes you get nice tasting fresh food. Have made 20 varities of food so far including orange chicken, chicken tikka. Launched this with the help of kids and wife. https://mealgenie.co/ Planning for a kick starter campaign now.

Spending time with my kids (but that isn't a change from normal times).

Since I live in a rainy country which enforced a 5km movement restriction over the winter and have young kids who needed home schooling and minding in the evening, what was a change was exploring different apps in VR after they'd gone to bed with the Oculus Quest 2. There's something about getting out into different places.. Seems like a basic human need. VR helped to scratch those itchy feet!

While I was stuck at home I even switched from working out on the cross trainer to working out with The Thrill of the Fight VR. I was amazed to discover that by really going at it I can get the same or better workout heart rate stats in Thrill of the Fight to the fairly intense level I was doing on the cross trainer. So much fun. It really doesn't take much motivation at all to work out that way.

A new house with half an acre, and a ride-on.

This has had to compete against a newborn, homeschooling and actually getting moderate symptoms of covid (I still get breathless, 1y on)... But yeah, zooming around on a miniature tractor is just the best.

I feel real guilt when I consider people are trapped in cities in a pandemic.

Getting better at talking about relationship problems with my partner. Whenever we talk about an issue, the issue is smaller afterwards. Even the things I convinced myself I should just live with. It’s still a work in progress, but what progress I’ve made has been massively worthwhile.

Working with my colleagues face-to-face for the first time in a long time.

During the pandemic, I started a new job at a company that refurbishes and sells second hand cars online. I spent the first 4 months doing the new normal, working from home. I thought everything was ticking along fine, but I accepted an opportunity to go to one of our refurbishment sites to see things actually happening and do a bit of strategic thinking with two colleagues in the 3rd-dimension.

It became the highlight of my year to date. I had more impact, influence, experienced clarity and had useful collaboration on that day than I have done in a long while. It was like night and day. I never thought I'd say it, but I can't wait to get back to working face-to-face.

Cooking. Always enjoyed it but over the pandemic, I got serious about it. Watched more YouTube videos than I can count, even took some online live classes.

Cooking is great because it not only gives you joy, but it also gives joy to those you feed. Such a pure way to spread happiness.

Selenomethionine [0]

> Selenoproteins seem to be of special importance in the development and functioning of GABAergic (GABA, γ-aminobutyric acid) parvalbumin positive interneurons of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Dopamine pathway might be also selenium dependent as selenium shows neuroprotection in the nigrostriatal pathway and also exerts toxicity towards dopaminergic neurons under higher concentrations. Recent findings also point to acetylcholine neurotransmission involvement.

[0] Importance of selenium and selenoprotein for brain function: From antioxidant protection to neuronal signalling

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26398431/

Maintaining a structure to my week where I work hard until Sat evening and then have an indulgent evening of music, film, beer, and food. The trips to the shop to stock up and the knowledge that I’m only ever 6 days from my Sat evening keeps me going.

Family game night on Jitsi video conference.

Went from seeing my parents and siblings in person once a year to seeing them virtually every week. I'm much more involved in their joys and struggles. It's a healthy dose of laughter and silliness every week.

Buying a BMW X5. I never really owned a car before.

Sadly, "danger pay" paid for coming into the office to make sure the infrastructure kept going for the telecommuters. I've been able to help the relatives during this craptacular time.

I had to stop my daily run/walk routine because of some problems with my foot, but I've been able to restart after getting foot support.

I couldn't run again, but I still love my morning walk+audiobook.

- Understood that understanding is not the result of thought but of observation ("I see it now").

- Understood that ego is the result of thought.

- Understood that fear is not the word fear.

- Understood that thought is the source of sorrow.

It's been running as well for me.

I'm 35 now and have never been much of a sports person. At the third lockdown, I felt I couldn't endure being in my home 24/7 anymore. (Was working from home then.) So I started to run, just to experience the outside. I saw physical fitness as a side effect.

My mood is so much better after running. It really does release endorphines.

Also, I go to the office at least for 2 days a week, in spite of a commute time of 1h one-way. Worth it. I need the physical seperation of work place to home.

I honestly can't think of anything and that kinda worries me.

I'm not sure if it's the absolute biggest contributor, but learning to unicycle during this period has helped me a ton. I love learning new physical skills like dancing or figure skating, so picking up the unicycle has been great in many ways. It forces me outside, it gives me something to keep working on and improving, and it even has some social aspects since being outside and unicycling means people will often comment on it (from a distance, of course).

Definitely motorbiking / offroading for me. It’s a great escape into nature, physically exhausting in a good way, and mentally challenging in the same way climbing is.

Small data movement, recording small things for a short while. Inspired by the book dear data. It allows me to reflect on things, be more present and mindful and it’s fun

Living alone.

Did some light building/carpentry around the house (An ice hockey rink and a large outdoor table). Picked up mountainbiking. Visited my parents in summer when the pandemic died down and got a chance to appreciate how important that is, instead of just a yearly routine.

As a permanent only wfh employee in my org since many years, the transformation that occurred when everyone else was in the same boat really improved my situation.

Family would be first. I would not have cared for working from home were I alone, but my wife is around. And my son moved back for a bit while changing cities of employment.

Neighbors would be second. I got more of a sense of the neighborhood working at my dining room table, from which I could see people going by on the sidewalk, and from lunchtime walks (other years downtown) and weekend runs (usually in a park that I found too crowded.)

Audio books.

Because of WFH, found a lot of additional time. Used that for listening to around 10 audio books in the past year. Most of the books I read were from a project management and entrepreneurship perspective. I used/discussed concepts learnt for work and felt slightly better off because of that. An example was using 5-whys for process improvement from The Lean Startup.

Lots of bicycling. Also, newborn baby last month!

Tao Te Ching and Alan Watts

My wife and building a 3D printer for fun.

Moving from a small flat to a house with garden in the suburbs. Lockdown with children in a flat is not good.

Building a homeserver. Happened to grab a Zen 2 based minipc just before lockdown & chip shortage hit.

Also reading more

Learning about bitcoin

Retired after 30+ years in IT when my company hit the COVID wall. Started walking several miles a day with my wife and our dogs, playing tennis three times a week, playing more guitar, singing and reading a lot more. Basically heaven on earth for me.

Starting a strict workout routine. I could see/feel effects after a few weeks. Can't do this kind of workout anymore since the lockdown in my country, but really looking forward to getting back at it once it's allowed again.

Being in a relationship. I can't imagine spending the last year without being with my partner.

My social circle changed radically too. People I used to meet in person are not the same set of people I would be in zoom calls with regularly.

Bought an incredibly beautiful farm. I literally get happy just setting foot on it.

Hiking! Living in D.C. is surprisingly proximal to a lot of nature outings in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. Getting out of my tiny apartment and out into nature absolutely makes me a happier person.

My dog. He kept me company and we were always happy to be with each other.

Bought a new book or toy for my kids once per week. They look forward every Friday to getting something new. I enjoy seeing their anticipation and getting to read something new to them that weekend.

Giving up my smartphone. It's been one of the single best choices I have made for the mental and social health of me and those I interact with, primarily my young family, just so much better.

Dog.

Endurance sports. Low heartrate long run or bike sessions. Some high-intensity stuff to mix it up. You get out of the house and the runner’s high is a thing (but can take a few hours to achieve).

The birth of our child was the greatest contributor to both happiness and stress for my wife and myself. Everything else that happened last year is inconsequential in comparison to that.

It gave my marriage a well needed boost , me and the wife was slowly drifting apart due to travel/work as the kids became adults.

We share my office at home now and it has been great.

Prayer, physical activity (hiking, gym, cycling etc.), meditation, time with my family, friends and colleagues, doing something creative (work&hobbies)

Having video lunches with friends in other cities. As everybody is working from home, this has been an opportunity to reconnect with some old friends.

Working from home. I will no longer work for companies that don’t allow me to work most days from home. Commuting is a pain and a waste of time.

Getting outside. It can be challenging with a family and young kids to get a hike, day at the beach or ski trip started, but I never regret it.

My son, born few weeks ago Family, overall Therapy

Myself; I realized while watching the decline and death of a close relative that the only person in my life making me unhappy was me.

Cats & walking to work listening to podcasts.

Music. Just playing around to practice does wonders. Might be harmful to your bank account if you start amassing gear, though.

Surviving cancer.

Working from home has been such an improvement:

Better food at home.

Less stress due to the lack of commute.

More time for the family.

Time for exercise.

Time to take my son by bike to the kindergarden.

More flexibility in general.

Computer games :)

I met someone I care about very much :')

started casual biking again after 20+ years. Then started creating videos (slow TV, no commentary, just POV) https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCkTuqgUxzTaLZ6lGidtd5iw/video...

Being a better dad, husband and friend.

Getting back into a routine of regular tennis, and varying my workouts with the Apple Fitness+ service.

Taking college classes again. I didn’t appreciate the experience in my youth, but now I love it.

Doing nothing for weeks at a time.

1. Buying a house 2. Deciding not to have kids 3. Deciding not to plan to live past 50-55

+1 to running. Anyone know of SWE/hacker focused running groups in the Bay Area?

I have not managed to make running enjoyable. What was the turning point for you?

started hiking to eventually hiking the appalachian trail and falling in love with the endless possibilities of exploration. Made me fall in love the country I now call home (albeit the parts with less humans).

Walking and mountain biking. Now back to powerlifting since gyms are open.

Heaps more time with the kids :)

Also started doing some woodwork and more of the cooking!

Probably less happy due to chronic fatigue and boredom of the IT grind

building good habits, i started using habitica after seeing it here

kayaking and camping/overlanding. Would love to get some west coast HNers together for an overlanding trip later this year after everyone's had their vaccinations.

I would say 3 things:

- I got a bike

- I left my previous job and started working on my own projects

- Adopting a cat

The web site 18xx.games

Having another baby, they are just so dang cute and lovable.

Sitting on the couch with my wife after a long day of work.

I bought some plants.

I discovered cycling!

Meditation practice

being together with people i love

listened to a lot of good music

slowly but keep learning new things that im passionate about

What does HM stand for?

My wife....

Re-reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, Adam Smith, Marx, and others. Home repair projects long-neglected.

Re-reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio, Adam Smith, Marx, and others. Home repair projects long-neglected.

working from home.

Endorphins are released for the body to be able to sleep. Exercise helps release, dopamine, endocannabinoids and more, which prop up the mood of the person. Endomorphins or endorphins are released for exact the same reason, doctors used always morphine, to numb down the pain of damage to the body from the excersise, or a surgical operation, or a bullet, and the patient is able to sleep.

For me happiness for this year is learning Rust.

Where do you guys get monies for all that?

In that order: chocolate, farting, the realization that climate change will wipe us all out soon.