Code of Conduct

I just turned 30 recently and moved to this city from a far away, northern land. I feel deeply entrenched in my work life but desperate to experience what this city's soul is really like. I'm a little confused and conflicted, determined but directionless, and cold-footed yet brave. In a mid-season and sitcom-y fashion I'm redefining myself a little. Trying a bit of everything right now.

Unnecessarily filled with busywork and endless comparisons. It lacks a bit of grounding but generally by all conventional metrics it's pretty good. I'm technically in a good place but there's a lopsided balance skewing towards work right now. I travel a lot and meet great people, I get to try a lot of new things that are fun and weird, and I have time in the mornings to make french omelettes. I plan silly things with equally silly people and it keeps me happy.

Finding the time to laugh, keeping up with old friends, and diving into new, random hobbies. For example I had a niche perfumery phase just recently and am on the cusp of entering my 'building model kits' phase. I also take long walks and go to smaller venue rave shows where I can headbang and lose myself in the music a little. During bad weeks I'll be tied to the couch binge watching TV and eating salty foods. I need places to be anonymous sometimes so I can fade into the background comfortably.

Defining things. I don't like that it's what's most important to me right now, but it's just what I keep coming back to. I recently also had a revived appreciation for my family and relationships so I've been thinking more long term in terms of how I want my life to look. Otherwise, I think unapologetic authenticity is what I'm trying to strive towards. I would very much like that.

The National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) hosts an annual world championship in Norwalk, CT and tickets are actually pretty reasonably priced.

I'm a female immigrant who moved to the Bay Area in 2015. I'm currently well established in my career but since I moved here I've struggled with making new friends. I'm currently working on myself and trying to improve my social skills.

My daily life routine revolves around working, going to the gym, taking painting classes, and taking care of my cats and plants. Whenever possible, I like to do outdoor stuff like camping and hiking.

Going to the gym and keeping in contact with nature (hiking, camping, offroading)

Strengthening my current friendships and improving my social life. After a bad breakup, I woke up to the fact that I was neglecting my friends, who are not that many since I didn't grow up in the US.

This Reddit post, which brought me here: https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1alecrf/talking_to_strangers_for_12_months_connecting/ OP's story is very similar to my story and I'm feeling very inspired by their post.

Recently got laid off from work so my days are currently free and unstructured as I plan my next move.

I spend a lot of my days drinking tea, vegging out on my couch with book in hand, eating delicious things, taking photos of beautiful things, and being obsessed with an orange cat on the internet named Jorts.

Surviving the chaos, you know how it is! Me and my plants.

I got back into gardening after a long hiatus, and I am officially in my grandma/cottage core era. I can't believe how much I miss it. Playing with dirt and soil feels so primal that it teleports me straight back to my childhood.

It's definitely not a career, or family, but real connections. I want to cultivate deep and fulfilling relationships, but unfortunately this has been difficult to achieve for the same reasons why it's hard to make friends post college.

Anything I recently found interesting?

Around the Corner! Love the concept.

I’m almost halfway through my 30s, child free so far, and recently recognizing the need to build, foster, provide, and maintain a support network outside of blood relatives.

My life is starting to smooth out now, after a lifetime of bumps and potholes. Lost both of my parents in the last 5 years - it has profoundly impacted my life, both the weight of the loss, and the weightlessness of the newfound freedom from toxic negativity.

My dogs, and my partner. Taking a deep breath, coming back to the present moment with various grounding exercises. If time permits, taking 5-15 minutes to journal, starting with 1, 3, or 5 things I'm grateful for right now.

Nurturing my relationships, keeping my loved ones close, establishing professional stability to alleviate my anxiety about the future, learning about personal finances.

Learning to cook different things, practicing mindfulness and gratitude, doing balance exercises and paying attention to my body and what it needs

I'm at my quarter-life-, what-do-i-want-for-a-midlife crisis stage. I'm in my mid-twenties, moved to San Francisco a little bit more than a year ago (have loved every minute of it). I'm also early in my career doing something I am passionate about but work, for me, has been a way to do the things that make me earn life experiences; I predominantly get this by doing a lot of things outdoors so I am very active but I also love to consume art as well be that through reading, watching, or listening.

Peaceful, content, and exciting. It surprises me daily that my life is this way because there was a point 2-3 years ago where I wouldn't have imagined life would ever be good to me. I'm extremely grateful for where I am today. I have a couple close friends with whom I do a lot of activities but I mostly do things by myself (I enjoy them very much) — things like picking a neighborhood and zigzagging through it to explore. I haven't made many new friends since moving to the city because I just end up doing things by myself but I want to break that and try to go out of my comfort zone, hoping this happens through AroundTheCorner because meeting new people, and making new friendships is a life experience I struggle to earn.

3 o'clock tea time. It is a sacred time, a non-negotiable that I look forward to daily. Making tea, while singing along to my tea time playlist with the sun shining through my windows and the breeze playing with my curtains is a sight I will never get tired of. Along with this, I also have reading time, gaming time, and exploration time. Each meaningful and special to me its own way.

Not losing the wonder with which I saw the world as a kid. Do you remember how the grass, wind, sun, clouds and everything else, small and big, (even the gray of the walls) awed you as a kid? I think we get caught up in life and stop appreciating all that after a point. I live slow, to relearn the wonder and curiosity I inadvertently put aside. I love to travel (currently planning my first solo trip to Costa Rica!), taking photos, and looking with awe at everything this fabulous pale blue dot has to offer.

A travelogue called "Cyclettes". It's about all the cycles the author has owned and the impact each one of them had on them. My cycle, and cycling in general, is something I hold dear because it was how I was first able to express my freedom. I always heard "freedom", and "free" as a kid but never really expressed it or experienced it's meaning until I started cycling. This travelogue/memoir caught my eye immediately because I could relate to it in a lot of ways.

I am a 48 year old mother of a 10 year old amazing boy. His father and I are divorced but I feel blessed we have a very healthy co-parenting relationship, always putting our son first. We even sometimes celebrate the holidays together!

I have a successful career in Biotech and appreciate what I do as I have many opportunities to learn and grow. But I work remotely from home and it gets lonely. Some friends have moved out of state and others are just too busy with the usual things in life to get together.

Nature and being outside, yoga, eating healthy, reading (I'm in a book club) . I love walking outside through different neighborhoods and appreciating the styles of homes/landscapes especially now that everything is in full bloom! I love trying different ethnic restaurants from Thai, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, etc.

I miss having friends to connect with. I would love to connect with others who live in the Menlo Park/Redwood City/Palo Alto/San Mateo area.

Prior to age 6 children are truly unable to understand the world from another person's point of view. A preschooler can be emotionally sympathetic but he cannot really stand in another's shoes. The ability to do this will not be fully present until around age 16.

Early/soon-to-be-mid 20s, and moved to the city a little under a year ago after graduation. A good number of my close friends stayed in the area as well, great for an initial base of social life but also causing me to find myself not exploring socially as much as I could. I've been trying to figure out how to define life for myself post-graduation - the routines that keep me sane, and how to break those up to keep things interesting.

Pretty good. I enjoy my work and am pretty satisfied with my social life even as I learn to explore more socially and find my footing in the city.

Lifting, drawing, reading, cooking when I have the time, and existing around others

Developing and defining my social life further

I started sketching somewhat consistently a few weeks back, without any real knowledge/practice previously. Didn't realize that I'd end up with a fairly consistent style after just a few days of doing it, despite it not being something i know how to describe still