Checking in for October for my "Designing a Well-Lived Life" blogging. This is about making small changes during the year to make larger changes.

• Writing more / designing more: I'm still working on editing my book "The Mediocre Programmer". I wrote more blog posts in October, in part because I had a few thoughts on the closure of Google+ and the resulting feelings of grief I had. I'm also working on some other projects (a code of conduct for Pepper&Carrot in particular) and am starting to read more RPGs to get myself back into thinking about designs. Part of this is in trying to apply some of the thoughts in "Deep Work" which I'll talk more about in a future post.

• Programming more: Still doing most of my programming for work, but am working through the "Teach Yourself Godot in 24 hours" book to learn more about Godot. Also have been helping some other folks with learning coding, both at Coffee House Coders, and in private sessions.

• Engage more with people, not things: I've been meeting more folks at Coffee House Coders, and have shifted my focus toward engaging with people at deeper levels (eg: on chat platforms). We're hitting the colder months so this will be more challenging, but I'm still keeping this in mind.

• Blogging more: Mentioned this above, but I've been blogging more this past month.

• Getting out of debt: Still slowly chipping away at this mountain. I'm trying to be more mindful about what I pick up and what comes home with me. Sometimes I'm successful.

• Supporting creators in sustainable ways: Still working on this. I've made a more conscious effort to try to buy directly from creators and to use platforms like Liberapay where they have a more monthly cadence of support (as opposed to "per creation". Ahem.) There's still more work to be done on this front, and I hope that we can get to where creators aren't having to work as hard to fund themselves.

• Physical health: I got a flu shot, so now I am invincible. Oh, alright, yes, this one has gotten no attention at all.

• Kindness: I've been working more with kindness toward myself, but tend to think of myself last when it comes to my kindness. This is something that I need to keep in mind. I've been approaching my other interactions with kindness. Hopefully I have succeeded.

• Mindfulness: I've been working on at least getting 5 minutes of meditation per day and being more aware of what I'm doing. This has helped when I've gotten into distraction loops (understanding that I'm essentially playing a slot machine to see where the next dopamine hit will come from). I've not been great at this (I've still gotten stuck) but I'm understanding the patterns that are emerging.