A Journey Forward, A Promising Future: Saying Goodbye to 2023

I once saw a comic called “11 Lifetimes.”

Spend a lifetime writing poetry, spend a lifetime creating, spend a lifetime seeking truth…

If I can live to 70, I still have seven lifetimes left.

2023 was the first year of this lifetime.

This year, I bid farewell to campus and stepped into the workplace. I left Anhui, came to Guangdong, and visited Tibet. I climbed mountains at dawn, saw the sea at night, and cycled 1,500 kilometers in the southern weather. In distant Lhasa, I witnessed the magnificent Potala Palace and experienced the most devout faith.

Bidding Farewell to Campus

2023 marked the end of my student years.

Time flies, and the scene of my enrollment still feels like yesterday.

A young man full of hope for the future, dragging heavy luggage, arriving here late one night…

Looking Back at College Life

During my four years in college, there were many unforgettable moments.

In 2019, celebrating New Year’s Eve with classmates from Surveying Class 2.

In 2020, participating in field practice with classmates from GIS Class 1.

The grand campus lawn music festival in 2021.

The orange sunset in 2022, at the school library.

During my four years, I visited some places: Hefei, Nanjing, Chuzhou, and Shouxian.

I saw Xuanwu Lake and Tianmu Lake, climbed Shungeng Mountain and Langya Mountain.

I experienced the warmth of Huainan, this city’s human touch.

I experienced the hardships of surveying fieldwork.

I also spent some sleepless nights studying programs I couldn’t understand at all.

I left behind some beautiful and precious memories.

Searching for direction in the fog, exploring the world within constraints—this is how my college life was archived.

Life and Health

In 2023, I lived in two cities: Hefei and Guangzhou.

Without life experience, renting, eating, and managing finances all became immediate problems. Only after truly settling down did I realize how difficult life can be.

Three Months in Hefei

During my three months in Hefei, I didn’t visit many places. I strolled along Huaihe Road, walked through the cultural center, and climbed Dashu Mountain.

Six Months in Guangzhou

During my half year in Guangzhou, I visited Zhuhai twice, and Jiangmen, Huizhou, Foshan, Zhongshan, and Shunde once each.

I visited Canton Tower, Beijing Road, Shamian Island, Seagull Island, Nansha Tianhou Palace, Xifang Courtyard, Shijiu Yong, Shuisheng Reservoir, and Yakou Coast. I climbed Baiyun Mountain, Huolu Mountain, and Danan Mountain. I ate freshly picked lychees and had dim sum.

In Zhuhai, I walked along Lovers’ Road, witnessed Macau’s extravagance, gazed across the sea at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and photographed the beautiful Sun Moon Shell.

My Weight Loss Journey

Life in 2023 was always on the road, and so was my weight loss journey, my journey toward health.

Due to poor lifestyle habits, by graduation in June, I had become quite bloated.

It wasn’t until my weight reached 85+ kg (170+ lbs) that I realized the seriousness of the problem.

I got a gym membership, persisted with running, controlled my diet, and got proper sleep. In four months, I lost about 10 kg (20 lbs), and my body became much healthier.

My Cycling Adventures

In my freshman year, influenced by my roommate, I bought a 500-yuan mountain bike and rode it for about half a semester.

Later, due to the pandemic, that bike was scrapped. In my junior year, I bought another one—a Xidesheng.

Unfortunately, it was stolen during summer vacation. Then in July of this year, I got into a Giant flat-bar road bike.

I rode it to Zhuhai once, and then wanted to switch to a drop-bar road bike. In December, I sold it and got a Java.

Riding the “Java Torpedo 6-top,” I’ve been to many places and created many beautiful memories.

My Journey to Tibet

At the end of the year, I quit my job in Guangzhou and took train Z264 to Lhasa, a journey of 5,000 kilometers.

Departing on the afternoon of the 24th, after 53 hours, I finally arrived at the roof of the world.

In one week, I visited Lhasa, Shannan, Shigatse, and Nyingchi. I saw the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Yamdrok Lake, Karola Glacier, Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, and Mount Namcha Barwa.

Career Planning

Yes, just six months after graduation, I quit my job. Why did I resign?

It wasn’t really an impulse decision; it was more about my own career planning.

My current position is Web Frontend Development Engineer, and I expect to remain in this field for a long time. Yet a year ago, I didn’t even understand web development (back then, I was just interested in web development and had copied and pasted some code).

My Internship at NIO

Never minding the stars, nor seeing the sunset for a long time…

I was a complete novice back then (still am now, well, a bit better than before~).

To keep up with the “assembly line” of a big company, I needed to spend more time studying code.

That spring, apart from studying and working, I had almost no other time to spare.

Fortunately, I genuinely loved this work.

I’m also very grateful for this experience, which helped me see my future career direction clearly.

I Love Frontend Development

I love tinkering, and development is all about tinkering. I love this industry.

During the pandemic, while stuck at home in quarantine, because I didn’t want to attend online classes, I started studying computers.

Back at school, in my C language lab class, I realized the powerful capabilities of that dark window, rolled up my sleeves, and prepared to dive deep~

The terminal was too ugly. Later, I wanted to add a graphical interface to my programs, so I started studying C#…

The things I wrote couldn’t be shared directly, the packaged executable files needed installation, and sometimes wouldn’t run due to environment issues. For various reasons, I completely lost interest in desktop GUI development.

I got into web development because I wanted to build a personal blog. From domain registration to website deployment, the simplicity and ease of use of web projects thrilled me.

My Work at Tuhui

NIO didn’t have headcount, so I had to find another path. By chance, I came to this company in Guangzhou, ready to make my mark.

But…

After working for a while, I found that small companies’ module division and institutional systems were indeed hard to describe, so I had thoughts of leaving early on.

Working for Myself

At work, we all have two bosses.

The first boss is your supervisor. You follow requirements, complete tasks, put in the work, and exchange it for a salary…

The second boss is yourself. What kind of person you want to become, what kind of growth you want to achieve at work, what goals you want to complete—these are the requirements this boss has for you.

I actually quite like working, because I can gain growth through work—what’s called working for myself.

Quantitative change leads to qualitative change. By being self-driven and self-growing at work, we can achieve self-breakthrough and self-iteration. Perhaps one day in the future, we can break free from the first boss and become people who work only for ourselves, or even don’t work at all.