In Chinese culture, the 本命年 (Ben Ming Nian) is the year in which your zodiac sign aligns with what the current zodiac is. So given 12 zodiac signs, this would occur every 12 years. As a Snake born in 2001, this year is my Ben Ming Nian. Cultural outsiders may think that this would be a most auspicious year.
Wrong.
The Ben Ming Nian is considered to be especially unlucky. New business ventures are doomed to fail, relationships can wither, and even your health can be at risk. The good news is that the Chinese, over the course of thousands of years, have compiled various ways to ward off bad luck.
So having armed myself with a red bracelet this entire year, let's reflect on whether there is some truth to this Ben Ming Nian superstition.
Lowlights:
I lost my freaking job.
After 2 years of dedicated and loyal service, a faceless multi-national corporation has sacrificed me and my team on the altar of unemployment. While not entirely unexpected in hindsight, given various red flags internally, it was still a surprise. Given this widely reported bleak job market, I definitely felt some fear and doom, which I think got partially reflected in my last post.
Losing your job is scary, especially at a time where the value of capital is outgrowing the value of labor. With AI advancement and adoption advancing at its current pace, it is starting to feel like any job could be my last.
Highlights:
I got a new freaking job!
The same forces that tried to destroy me, will now continue to feed me. And they will not only continue to feed me, but relocate me to somewhere bigger, and perhaps, better.
Around the beginning of 2026, I will be relocating to NYC.
I'm pretty excited about this change, as I've been wanting to leave Austin for a while now and a lot of my friends have relocated there already. At the same time, I am nervous because I dislike spending money and it feels like you can't leave your apartment in New York without losing $100.
Unlike some, I've never had a burning desire to move to NYC. Having been to Beijing, Tokyo, or Hong Kong, I was never really impressed with America's biggest city. Not only was NYC dirty and crowded, the residents seemed to actually take pride in just how shitty the city could be.
Then I visited NYC outside Manhattan.
When you actually leave the island, you start feeling like you can breathe again. The buildings get shorter and stop blocking out the sun, and the crowds thin out till there's space on the streets again. In Queens or Brooklyn, people aren't just constantly rushing in and out of buildings to a constant backdrop of car horns and construction, but actually living their lives within their communities.
I quite liked that change, and it was this scenery that did make me feel like I could live here too.
Peak Physical Condition
After a year of living with Daniel, I am now in the best shape of my life. Over the course of this past year, Daniel and I were really locked in on fitness and keeping each other accountable. After going to the gym ~5x/week and running on our days off, I am the strongest I've ever been while also losing ~15 pounds from a high of 175. I went from struggling to finish 2 miles to running a half marathon. While I've been relatively fit for some time now, this year was a new peak, one that demands sustained dedication and effort.
I would be lying to say that I worked out purely for health benefits, as now combined with the effects of Accutane and a nose job, I am the best I have ever looked. While this hasn't directly translated to romantic success yet, there are still some noticeable benefits.
Strangers tend to smile at me more, people I meet are more eager to get to know me, and I do catch occasional stares from women. I think it has also made a difference in my career. I am given more opportunities to present, and taken more seriously in meetings. I also believe that being attractive plays a huge role in interviewing. Being able to present well on screen may have an even greater positive effect than nailing a technical assessment.
Amazing Travel Experiences
I've been very fortunate this year to be able to travel to Mexico, Italy, China and some memorable trips with friends within the US. It's always nice to just relax and explore somewhere new and with my saved PTO and an unexpected layoff, I was able to travel more than I would have.
Traveling is really such a privilege, partially because you don't really know when the next you will be able to come back, if at all.
Deepening Connections with New and Existing Friends
Change was a common theme not only in my life, but that of my friends as well. Existing friends moved away, and new friends entered my life. While it's sad that relationships can be temporally and spatially fleeting, I am grateful for every connection that I've furthered this year and thankful that I did not lose any friendships.
While meeting new people is great, I think it can be even better to invest in existing relationships. It's becoming more evident that the grass grows greener where you water it. It truly takes a lot of context to get to know someone, and your 20s are especially rich in context.
I'm a little sad that I will soon be moving far away from many of my Texas friends. As life is taking its course on everyone, I hope at one point we can all converge together again.
Reflection
Overall, I think 2025 was a great year for personal growth and forced changes.
I think my job loss in October was God giving me a push. For better and for worse, I've always been a very content person, maximizing my comfort and avoiding doing difficult things. This was especially true at work. I liked the team I was on, the work I was doing, and suppressed some organizational red flags because having to interview again is such a daunting task.
I think the lesson here is that you have to take your career in your own hands, and that means being vigilant about the overall landscape. People may tell you things are going fine, but if reality doesn't reflect that, you need to trust your intuition.
I have also been finding myself becoming easily irritable or reclusive at times. I think the stresses of adulthood are starting to pile on and create emotional calluses. Being an only child has also meant that I was used to being alone, but being alone is a vastly different beast when you are post-grad.
My journey into looksmaxing has also made me reflect on my vanity. Although I cannot deny the increasing importance society is placing on physical appearance, I should really seek to minimize my own involvement, lest I perpetuate the issue more. Being vain can be great from a distance, but it can also make you miserable. This path leads to arrogance. Wherever arrogance goes, the wrath of God also follows.
Beauty is a gift, but it's all so temporary. We should all seek to kindmax instead.
To build the relationships I want and the communities I desire, I need to temper my judgments and put myself out there even when it's difficult. This is the mentality I hope to bring to NYC.
By continuing to put my faith in God, I hope 2026 will be an amazing year. No need for superstitions anymore.