In 2014 I started changing my lifestyle after realizing that consumerism and overconsumption was affecting me physically, spiritually and financially. There comes a point in everyone's life where you feel frustrated with the world and disappointed in the person you've become, it's then at this cross road in our life that we can make the decision to become better. That's exactly what happened when I began to analyze my lifestyle and realized that I wasn't helping anyone by living without thinking about the impact of what I ate and bought. So, thankfully with my husband on board, we began to move towards a more minimal waste lifestyle. Why a minimal waste lifestyle instead of a zero waste lifestyle? I'll devote a blog post here all about this.

In the following year as I began re-evaluating my life, I also began to realize that another part of me knew that I was no longer satisfied with being a university instructor - teaching academic English to international students. I wanted to do something that would have more of a noticeable impact, and one where my mind was both challenged and excited. Fortunately, my husband a data analyst steered me towards the world of programming. With the abundance of information on the web, it wasn't hard for me - a part-time instructor at the time - to learn about programming from scratch. I dropped my dissertation and quit my doctorate after studying for 4 years. I knew the decision was tough, but by focusing on something that I knew would give me the skills to build something amazing, I knew that I had to pursue it with my whole heart.

As I grow and learn in my new field and lifestyle, I want to share with you all how I'm working on building a life that not only brings me joy, but encourages me to think outside of the box and with more consideration of its impact on others.

It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential. Bruce Lee