12 of 12: A day in May 2022

It’s the 12th of May. I join the bloggers’ tradition and document the day with 12 photos. Half of the year has almost passed. Will I look back to this year with a feeling of joy, gratitude and accomplishment?

12 of 12 is a good exercise for reflecting on how we use the time of a random day in our life. It helps me to be grateful and see the privileges I have.

1/12: I feel tired after the lack of sleep I got from reading a crime story the other night. I force myself to get up. The bedroom, like the other rooms, are a mess. I look forward to Saturday, when coach Katrin Diller will visit me and help to organise my apartment.
2/12: I go to the bathroom where I always enjoy the art pieces that I have curated to match the room’s topic.
3/12: It will be a warm day. I love my backyard.
4/12: Not a thing I enjoy: The meat I bought yesterday wasn’t good anymore. I will go to the supermarket and try to get a refund.

5/12: While I sip my hot Thai milk tea, I watch a documentary about Beijing’s bike mobility. Yesterday, I talked to my colleague about how wonderful it was to ride the bike in a sea of bikes in Beijing in the 80’s. Soon after, the sea of bikes became a sea of cars. But I am confident that this will change again.

6/12: I get myself ready for work. Yesterday and today I feel like wearing red!
7/12: Should I go to the supermarket before or after work? I decide to go before work: The staff would be more relaxed and I would still look neat in my work clothes. And yes, it was good to invest the additional 20 minutes to get it done. While giving me repetitive apologies, they added an additional slice of fresh meat and even cleaned my glass container which contained the old slice of meat.
8/12: I work as a brand strategist and visual storyteller at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics. When I arrive at work, I instantly get absorbed by today’s tasks: a portrait shooting with a PhD student, photo selection for a social media post, poster prints for research conferences, brief with a researcher for a highschool outreach activity, ordering new paper and ink for the printer, updating our Nobel Prize winner’s curriculum, brainstorming and exchange with colleagues on our new contact-us webpage. I love the great variety of my work.
9/12: I leave work early today, because I need to pick up my son. Glad I managed to leave early enough to take the bike instead of the public transport. I feel so much better with a little bit of exercise.
10/12: My son and I enjoy yummy ice cream in the sunshine before we go home. The ice cream is helpful today, because I still need to work on a folder and have a meeting to discuss it with the Frankfurt support group for family members of individuals living with mental illness. I am glad my fellow members like the design.
11/12: My son is happy to have a lot of screen time today 😅. As he doesn’t want me to post a photo of him online, even not from the back, I post a photo of the sky I took during my bike tour from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden in April. I have learned from my eye trainer Sylvia Gelman, that looking at an image of the sky helps to relax the eyes while working on the screen.
12/12: I finish eating dinner while my son falls asleep next to me. Then I continue to read the end of the crime story of Nele Neuhaus, a local author whose crime stories take place in the surroundings of Frankfurt.

By Shau Chung Shin

I am a designer, businesswoman and founder of HAHAHA Global and Gesund in MeinerStadt. I develop solutions and products that encourage an open and positive approach to taboos. In doing so, I contribute to a healthier and more peaceful world.

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