Piecing It All Together...

It's day 125 of documenting 2025.

When you get a bunch of broken pieces and you put them all together the right way, you make something new...

And suddenly, they don't feel so broken anymore.

One of the characters said this in an episode of "Legends Of Tomorrow", my favorite series ever.

When I watched it yesterday, I was moved to take that quote down.

Yesterday I thought a lot about what I'm doing and where I'm going.

And also what I want to commit to and focus on.

I'm still on the break from WhatsApp...and I told my closest friend the real reason I went on the break.

It was an audio I recorded and sent to him.

It was more like a confession really... 

I also talked about eliminating distractions and working on myself.

Little did I know what was going to happen this morning.

It confirmed my deepest feelings and paved a way for me to start mending myself.

So what happened?

I woke up this morning, due to the chatter from my siblings who were already awake.

I wondered why the alarm I set didn't ring.

My phone was charged, so I decided to turn it on.

Then the bomb dropped.

A weird notification popped up on my screen....like strange programming.

Twas in English (thank God!)

It went something like,

Android Recovery...

You data may be corrupt.

If you keep seeing this, you may have to initiate a factory data reset.

Try again

Factory reset

My heart jumped...I know what it meant.

My phone will need to be reset...flashed...all data wiped out.

I tried again.

Same thing happened.

As I tried it a few more times, I thought of all the things on my phone.

The movies I haven't watched yet, my pictures, my apps, alarms and settings.

Even all the unread messages on Whatsapp.

I had to wake my brother up (the techy one 😏) and showed him what was going on.

He tried again but the notification showed.

Then he told me that I had to reset the phone.

I accepted my fate.

I hit "factory data reset".

Then it showed, "formatting data".

And the screen went off.

In that moment, I thought of what this meant.

And I finally understood something.

This was my chance to start over!

My phone came on and as I expected, it started like it was a new phone.

"Set up your new phone"

"Add a Gmail account"

"Sync your contacts"

All those new phone stuff.

I did all that and checked to confirm the reset.

All the apps that were there last night were gone....except system apps.

All the pictures, videos, settings and alarms...all gone.

But then PK's message came in.

He understood why I wanted to take a step back and encouraged me to keep going.

At that moment, tears streamed down my face.

Tears I've been holding on to for so long.

I let them go.

Just like I let all my old apps, media and settings go.

This shifted my mindset in a great way.

Let me explain it this way....

Let's imagine I'm a smartphone 📱

I've been keeping so many apps and media and settings.

Things I may need, things I absolutely don't need.

As a result, my system starts to lag.

It gets to the point where my system can't take it anymore and automatically goes for a reset.

To clear up all the baggage.

You get it now?

As the phone was setting up, I thought of the vital apps I would need.

And they were not as much as the long list of apps I previously had.

I downloaded the basics which included:

My bank apps, Blogger, Colornote, Google Analytics, Google Docs, Whatsapp, Facebook, ChatGPT and Leonardo AI (for blog images)

The last one is a new one.

I haven't used it before...but when I downloaded it, I tried it immediately.

The image generated was perfect! 👌

(That's the image above)

I'll be using it a lot more from now on, so I won't bother ChatGPT.

Gemini is gone....and I don't plan to download it back.

I'll stick with my first AI.

Anyways, I'm glad this happened.

It showed me that I could reset too.

I could start over.

I can pick up my broken pieces and put them together the right way.

And this time, go all in.

I know there's a price to pay for the path I want to take...and I'm ready to pay it.

Mark it, my friend...May 5th 2025.

As for recovering my important files and ebooks, it was a breeze.

All of them were saved to my Google Drive through my Gmail account.

The most important files are what are on my phone now.

My Facebook account was restored, as well as my Whatsapp.

I'm guessing most of the messages there may be lost....I didn't back them up.

But I ain't checking...till my break is over, on Thursday.

Until then, they will have to wait.

Today was just...so unexpected.

I'm still going to share today's highlights.

That's not going to stop 😉

365 Days With Self-discipline

📌 On Going Away From Work

"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgement will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."

Quote by LeonardoDaVinci

Even the great artist himself said,

"Take a break, you workaholic!...or you'll burn out".

(That's my version 😄)

"A productive, self-disciplined person isn’t afraid of taking a break and relaxing a little. 

They know that if they don’t do it, they won’t recharge and soon their greatly decreased creativity and problem-solving skills will ruin their resolve."

"Often when you’re struggling with the same problem for weeks or months on end, it’s because you’re too close to it and unable to see the forest for the trees. 

An act of what you might consider a lack of self-discipline — taking it easy and going on a trip — is ultimately a smart technique to ensure maximum productivity and persistence for the long haul."

Basically, it's a smart strategy to take a break from work when you're facing something you can't figure out yet.

That's my take...cos it's what I'm currently doing.

You know what?

I don't miss any of the old stuff.

They're the distractions I was holding on to....like the tears.

I'm willing to eliminate all of that for the path I want to take.

And I hope I stay on track.

Happy Monday my friend 😊

I hope you're working on yourself and your dreams...like I'm trying to.

In the end, what matters is who you become and not what you get.

This is where I draw the curtains.

If you want to catch up on former posts, visit documenting 2025.

There's over a hundred of em'...

I'll see you there 🙂

I'm Duon Ada and I call myself the eccentric writer.

I'm documenting 2025.

And I'll see you tomorrow

Ciao 💕