On Life & Balance

It’s been a hectic few months…

I left the Algorand Foundation at the end of August.

I was tired. I wasn’t happy. It was time…

It wasn’t Algorand – great ecosystem, great team, great tech… Seemingly a great job. I was lucky to be there and any complaint would come from a place of privilege.

It wasn’t that. It was simply that I felt stuck in the inertia of life.

I was moving, but in a trajectory I lost control over.

My work was all-consuming. My children were complaining they didn’t see me enough (despite the fact that I worked from home!). I worked with Asia in the morning, Europe in the afternoon, East Coast in the Evening and West Coast at night….

It was killing me softly.

I had to zoom in to get in-tune with my heart.

I had to zoom out to see the forest from the trees.

I had to nurture my soul a bit…

September

I took September easy. A couple laid back weeks with my family and headed off to a 10 day silent Vipassana (meditation technique) retreat. I’ll write more about my experience there at a different time, but overall I can say – it was a very challenging experience. It was a cleansing experience. I experienced change. I’m glad I did it, but it’s not for everyone – in fact, I would only recommend it to about a handful of people I know.

I returned fresh and with insights, but as soon as I returned – my wife handed me the kids and left for an East Coast University tour – sharing her new book. I never really got to sit down quietly and process my Vipassana experience because…

October

October 7th… I actually have a half written blog post drafted up discussing the very complex situation here in Israel, which I never completed it and am not sure I ever will (I think just writing my thoughts down served as a coping mechanism and besides – who the fuck cares what I think…)

My wife was away when the war started and there was so much uncertainty; Rockets were firing left and right. We didn’t have a shelter (we’ve built one since!) and it felt like WW3 was around the corner.

I remember receiving an email from the US embassy announcing a ship leaving from Haifa to Limasol with a two day notice. No registration necessary – just come and we’ll get you out. When I saw that email I panicked – what might they know that I don’t? Is Hizballah going to pick it up a notch? Is Iran getting involved?

Should we actually consider leaving our home for a while?

Normally that notion would sound preposterous – but nothing about the situation was normal.

Normally I’d say – I AM ISRAELI. THIS IS MY COUNTRY. THIS IS HOME! But I’m also a parent and it’s my number 1 priority to keep my children alive.

So yeah, relatedly another insight: when war happens – priorities change.

November – December

November & December were pragmatic months – I did my best to get my “house in order” meaning taking care of taxes, investments and catching up on other bureaucratic bullshit I had been procrastinating on.

I kept asking myself – how can I be efficient. I did art, I signed up to the gym.

I discovered CryptoAid Israel (an initiative led by Ben Samocha and some of Israel’s leading companies and Founders in the Web3 space) – and decided that volunteering and contributing my time towards raising funds for Humanitarian Aid in Israel was well worth my time. We’ve raised over $250K worth of crypto to date (although unfortunately as the war goes on – convincing people to contribute towards Israeli Humanitarian Aid is a harder sell 🙁

That being said – Israel is going through hell; In addition to the many hostages and many many casualties over 200,000 Israeli citizens are currently displaced (whether from the communities surrounding Gaza or those up North near the border with Lebanon).

We have an apartment in a city called Harish which we were planning to sell and since it was vacant – we contributed it to the effort – inviting a family from the North to stay there until things settle down…

While I haven’t been technically released by the IDF from reserve duty, I haven’t been called up either – probably due to the fact that I haven’t served in over 13 years, along with the fact I’m on the fringe in terms of age (42 years young) to be an active reserve.

This however places me as the youngest generation of non-reservists in my community – so I’ve been volunteering on our local security squad – to keep our Moshav safe. I never thought I’d have to hold a gun again – but here I am checking people at the entrance gate with an M-16 rifle…

January

It’s crazy to me the end of January is here.

Every month seems to pass by faster than the one before – weeks just flashing by.

I’ve been meeting with a coach – defining my goals, my vision, my USP for the world.

My wife and I took a short vacation in the desert, I can finally say I’m well rested.

And I’m finally starting to feel the itch to get back into the chaos of Web3. This hiatus has treated me well (all considered) and rejuvenated my hunger to do something big and make a difference.

So you heard it here first – I’m entering the job market;)

My next role will:

• Be a high impact job in the Web3 space
• Related to Growth (marketing and/or ecosystem development)
• Related to leveraging creativity, innovation and technology towards improving people’s lives
• With a team I vibe with, a mission I relate with and people I can learn from

I’m in no hurry to find something fast and have the privilege to be picky.

If you know of something relevant or just want to chat – hit me up!

And if you’re still reading this – much love. Yes I’m a marketing guy but I never really promote these posts as I write them first and foremost for myself.

Thank you for your curiosity.

Thank you for caring and/or finding an ounce of value in these words 🙏.