In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the definitions of recalibration involves “adjusting precisely for a particular function” again.
In my professional life, we tend to use the term whenever we gather together with the goal of having a uniform set of terms to describe a wine’s style. I.e., this is medium sweet, this is high acid, this is low tannin, this is medium garnet, etc… something I had a privilege of doing by sitting in a recent WSET3 class.
Lately, however… I have been using the term in other aspects of my life.
It’s no secret that I took a long hiatus, focusing on projects that I felt mattered… mostly involving helping others through charity events. It was absolutely fulfilling but undeniably taxing… and I’ve reached a point of having been incredibly burned out (no regrets though).
I then took a break from charity work – which also allows my business partner to have a much-needed recalibration of his own. Between then and now, a lot of things happened: Friends came and left, family dynamics changed (for the better – circumstances have brought us closer than we ever imagined), trusts were broken, new hobbies were discovered (my sedentary 20+ year-old self would be laughing so hard at the amount of fitness toys I bought in the last year), I got over my fear of people long enough to run my first official 10k, decked a few male coaches enough to realize my hooks have become dangerous, my husband switched jobs (or as James A. Loyola of Manila Bulletin put it, was “poached”)… Changes, changes.
I’ve also returned to getting treatments for my mental health – something I’ve been open about but put off long enough in favor of slugging it out with my heavy bag (admittedly a dangerous, band-aid solution). It took a while to get help again because we discovered something the hard way: Proper mental healthcare facilities/professionals in the country are hard to come by… a long story I’m probably gonna talk about another time.
All of these changes plus several conversations with family, friends, and people whose opinions matter (aka candid members of my target audience) made me realize a few things: Life is short, and I should pursue what makes me happy.
I needed to recalibrate my definition of happiness. Lately, it’s being with my family. It involves being with friends. It involves traveling. It involves nailing a new complicated boxing combination/nailing a move/achieving a new running PR. It involves being at home.
What worried me when I did this so-called “happiness recalibration” was that what I do for a living was nowhere on that list. I’ve been finding myself extra grumpy/stressed whenever I worked to the point of being called names behind my back (most of which I honestly wear with pride anyway… hysterical). I started to really, really isolate myself – partially from depression/trust issues, partially from wanting to truly figure out what I wanted to do.
After a while (and I mean a while), it hit me: Work-wise, I like entertaining people through stories (a family trait, I discovered). I also like relating drinks to the strangest (but relatable things), say… wine to cars. Japanese alcohol to Japanese sensibilities. German Prädikatswein classifications to their terminologies and German culture. Religion to beer. Wars to wine bottle shapes. Korean work ethics and soju. Unorthodox food to orthodox wine. I like working slowly and deliberately, I like working from home. I like writing in my voice. I hate tech. I take forever to be comfortable with people.
I also realized that for the longest time, I’ve allowed myself to be boxed in by other people’s opinions on my content… but when I looked at the data, they weren’t my target audience in the first place. We came up with the site because we wanted to create a fun, relatable, accessible content for drinks and somehow, I lost sight of that.
All this made me decide to go back to writing… Not as often as when I started the blog (I don’t think I can sustain the twice a week output I did back in 2014 anymore), but enough to sate my desire in telling stories and entertaining (plus ever so slightly educating both myself and whoever still reads this in the process). The great part about the hiatus is that it liberated me long enough to find my voice again and recalibrate how I wanna tell my stories.
Let’s see where this takes me. Will there be social media content? Maybe. Will I branch out to other formats? Why not*.
In the meantime, I’m happy to just be typing out a story again (and being more authentic this time around).
*Hey if anybody is willing to patiently teach this technophobe how to create better IG reels/a podcast/whatever I’m more than happy to learn something new
