I’ve moved around the world more often than usual this year. I hadn’t written much about this, so I wanted to start with this post:

My wife and I moved away from NYC, where we lived for two years, back to Toronto. I left my job as the director of marketing for FGX.

I spent a lot of time in the suburbs where I grew up, and that felt equal parts nostalgic and overwhelming. It felt like memories constantly streamed into my mind, whether they were welcome or not. I walked down sidewalks I hadn’t walked down in, probably, two decades. The suburbs are a place for people to survive. There is a wide range of people who live here. I see more babies and seniors here than I did in Manhattan. 

During this time, I regained a clearer sense of the child I used to be. I know a friend of a friend who works at the civic center, the building right beside my old high school. It’s not impossible to imagine a possibility that I never left the suburbs, and stayed in that area, eating at the same restaurants in the same plaza I grew up in. I’d be a very different person.

When I live in the suburbs, I feel more compelled to focus on defense. I feel inclined to spend less, instead of focusing on earning more or creating larger opportunities. This can feel draining and pessimistic. I realize why I felt so frustrated when I lived here in my younger, more proactive, years; I wanted to focus on offense, and my context set me up to focus on defense. Now, I’m more mature, and I can see the value of focusing on the foundation, and also set myself up for different modes. It seems to me like a lot of people live frugally. A couple of entrepreneurs I met in NYC started living in the city, then moved upstate or to Connecticut. 

Libraries offer free meeting rooms. We effectively started up our project in these spaces. It’s hard to believe, because time in a space like those rooms would have easily cost a couple of hundred bucks in Manhattan. 

We got to spend a bunch of time with family, both in Toronto and Hong Kong. We also visited Japan. I visited Kyoto for the first time, and I loved it. As we returned back to Toronto, the jet lag hit particularly hard.

My wife and I kicked off a project that will be marketing ready in a month or so, and production ready a few weeks after that. The work continues. Our little project quickly opened up a sense of possibility. We learned to lean into our respective strengths, and blend them to come up with something new. It’s plausible that it will evolve into a feasible business. I’m excited to ship to see what reality has to say about the vision. Either way, I feel really proud of what we have made. 

After a whirlwind of moves, we finally found a place to live downtown Toronto. It feels relieving and orienting.