There's nothing like that first walk down your street after a long stretch away: an out-of-body experience that feels completely novel and completely familiar at once. You pass the bodega with the cheap strawberries out front, the subway entrance with graffiti scrawled across the sign, the bakery just opening its doors to the morning crowd, and you see all of it the way you did the very first time.
That's my favorite part of coming home: a renewed sense of attention. And it isn't just about my surroundings… it's about the way I move and interact with the world. Which parts of vacation-me do I want to keep? Which new habits do I want to form? What have I been missing? What have I been craving? It's the strongest signal I get for figuring out the life I want to live.
Traveling and wandering was its own kind of magic. But the walk home reminded me that I've been quietly building a life I want to walk back into: and that life is in Brooklyn.
Who am I again? I am Brett Bejcek. I live by my top values of Exploration, Iteration, and Connection. Exploration is what I do; I do it through iteration; and I do it to create more connection. I am prioritizing physical health, building community, and cultivating creativity.
Fun Metrics. A peek into my life: some tied to goals, others just for fun. Because I’m not a business, I’m a silly human. And silly humans sometimes spend 30 minutes comparing pastries consumed instead of finishing their to-do list.
ㅤ | March 2026 | April 2026 | Change |
Avg workout min /day | 86 | 183 | + 112.7% |
Avg steps / day | 10,825 | 19,574 | + 80.8% |
Flights taken | 0 | 1 | + 100.0% |
Books read | 2 | 1 | - 50.0% |
Side projects shipped | 4 | 0 | - 100.0% |
Pastries consumed | 8 | 4 | - 50.0% |
Days journaled | 4 | 10 | + 150.0% |
Fun lil’ memories
Highlights of April:
- Hiking buddy A cat followed me for a few miles on a solo hike: moving past switchbacks, waiting on rocks, leading me to vista points I would have walked past. It felt less like he was tagging along and more like he was showing me the secret spots of the trail. It was a good reminder of why one of my values is connection, not community: connection doesn't require permanence or even, apparently, the same species.
- Rainstorm I got caught in a torrential downpour on my way to the Colosseum. It was bad enough that the entrance tents outside were blowing over. But there was something so deeply human about it: running into other equally-unprepared tourists and laughing at the absurdity together, the man trying to sell me a poncho when I was already so soaked it would've been like bailing out a sinking ship with a teacup. There's a specific kind of joy that's only available to people who have succumbed to the wet.
- Catching beauty The Amalfi Coast does this thing where the sea fades into the sky and you genuinely can't tell where one ends and the other begins. I woke up to that palette every morning and it stopped me in my tracks more than once, which is rare for me. The peak: stumbling on a string quartet playing in a garden in Ravello. I cried: which I don't think I've ever done at a piece of music before. Beauty I'm prepared for, I admire. Beauty that catches me off guard, I feel. I want more of the second kind.
Lowlights of April:
- Living in the ambiguity I've never been good at sitting with undecided feelings. My usual move is to kill them on impact: decide they're not real, decide they're not worth the pain, decide something…because the not-knowing is worse than a wrong answer. This month I've been practicing the opposite: letting feelings be ambiguous, riding the highs and lows without trying to resolve them, telling myself "not now" when the urge to decide kicks in. It's deeply uncomfortable. It's also, I think, the work I need.
- Away from NYC I get into a pattern on long trips where I crave the stability of home to create, get frustrated that I'm only consuming, and then consume more out of frustration. April was heavy on the consumption side. I also unraveled a bit on the logistics in a way that was deeply not me: booked a tour for the wrong day, completely missed a cooking class. For me, it's a signal that I do my best work inside a routine I've built deliberately. Excited to get back to it.
How did I do on my goals last month?
April Goals
Stop | Start | Continue |
Late night snacking ✅ | Morning stretching ❌ | Working out ✅ |
ㅤ | One boring distribution task per day before you open your code editor. ❌ | Investing in community 🟡 |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Taking advantage of living in NYC (more shows + events) ❌ |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Rituals with friends 🟡 |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Saturday work sessions ❌ |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Building + shipping ❌ |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Cooking ❌ |
What am I prioritizing for this month?
May Goals
Stop | Start | Continue |
Traveling | Stretching - (link to pre-workout stretches, because clearly the morning ritual is not working for you) | Working out |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Investing in community |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Taking advantage of living in NYC (more shows + events) |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Rituals with friends |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Saturday work sessions |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Building + shipping |
ㅤ | ㅤ | Cooking |
May feels like a chance to put some of this into practice. Less consumption, more creation. Less rushing to resolve, more sitting with what's unresolved. More walks where I let myself actually see the street.
With love,
Brett Bejcek
On the first of every month I do a little self-audit and put it out into the world. Why? Accountability, reflection, and because life’s more fun when you share the messy middle.