No hurry, no pause: New Year reflections
The one time out of the year when I get (a bit) more personal
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In 2021, I shared Humanize Thyself, some year-end reflections based on prompts from the Foster Community. I thought it would be fitting to use the same questions with new answers for 2022. Everything I wrote in Humanize Thyself still applies, but the goal is to document each year as a season in my life. I'm usually a private person, so if this kind of stuff bores you, no sweat. This is a once-a-year occurrence, and regular programming will resume 😉. As we re-emerge from the Plague and into 2023, I leave these words for those who may be curious.
What over the past year has made you angry about this world? What is not fair?
Toxic TikTok — Social media apps like TikTok have become so perverse and disturbing that it would honestly be a net positive to American society if TikTok was ever banned in the US due to escalating US-China tensions. On one hand, I’m grateful I grew up post-MySpace but pre-TikTok. On the other hand, I’m terrified for my future kids and the kind of digital world they will be exposed to.
Rare Pokémon Syndrome in medicine — There’s a gross fascination in medicine towards rare diseases. Rare = intellectually interesting/noteworthy. TV shows like House lean into this heavily.
I often see this with rare genetic disorders, especially those with <100 reported diagnoses. These are usually once-in-a-career cases, I get it, but the way some (of course not all) providers talk about it amongst themselves is questionable at best. Some of these backroom conversations I’ve overheard before. I used to feel uncomfortable treating rare disorders like rare Pokémon, something to get excited about when you come across while practicing.
But this mentality hits differently when you’re on the other side of the table. When your loved one is the one diagnosed with a rare condition the doctor has never seen before in practice, only read about it.
Don’t believe me? Here’s an exchange between GI doctors I came across while researching everything I could about the condition impacting a loved one, on public discourse no less:
What worries you most about the future? What change would you like to see?
This is the one answer I will repeat from 2021:
Label-driven camps of thought replacing curiosity-led truth seeking. Calling someone a name — racist, capitalist, eugenicist, misogynist, etc. — is a cop-out. Instead:
What is it about a person or issue that bothers you, and what can you do about it? (Besides complaining on Twitter.)
On the flip side, how can you be a thoughtful world citizen to leave things better than when you found them? (And not give others the impression you’re an *XYZ negative attribute*).
Disarm the skeptics and haters with curiosity, reasoning, data, and kindness. Focus on solving the problems you can solve and being the best version of yourself today — Karma will take care of the rest.
But also, you don’t need to belabor and engage with everything. Your time and energy are finite. Low stakes should be low drama.
What excites you about the future?
Having the internal strength to support others and deliver change.
2021 was one of the hardest years of my life. Being at the center of controversy feels awful. But I’m now in a much better place and have turned pain into insight, stoic wisdom, and compassion for founding teams at all stages.
I also realized patient advocacy comes in many different forms. Investing is a way to go upstream and accelerate problem-solving before reaching frontline clinical care. It's not about altruism; it's about good businesses that can make a positive impact. In a time dominated by short-termism, there's more value than ever in building for the long term.
Cancer doesn’t care about inflation and rising interest rates. Infertility doesn’t care when earnings season is. There are real problems to be solved regardless of the macro environment.
Is there something that doesn’t make sense to you? Maybe it’s even a bit funny?
Space-age tech on bronze-age railings — I credit Simon Barnett for coining this phrase. It refers to the absurdity of hyper-optimizing advanced technology while hobbling along with outdated infrastructure. Many examples exist, such as while it’s great we can sequence the entire genome in 5 hours for critically ill infants, prior insurance authorization for rapid WGS can often take days.
The implosion of FTX and crypto — I generally speak on things within my circle of competence, but SBF’s failure wiping out $152 billion of market value in three days from the 15 largest cryptocurrencies is a historic moment. It makes WeWork and Theranos look like child’s play. I feel both a sense of schadenfreude (terrible, I know) and also deep sorrow for the lives impacted — over $8 billion that vanished for people who placed funds in FTX. I’m waiting for a movie to come out of this debacle. It’s gonna be the next Big Short.
Perception of VCs being at the top of the Prestige Totem Pole — Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of great people in the venture capital world working hard to make a difference. My sincere hat tip to them. But you also gotta appreciate Twitter accounts like VCs Congratulating Themselves for taking VCs’ (often inflated) egos down a notch and poking fun at them. Also, shots fired by Peter Thiel 😂
(And before I burn any bridges with my dry humor, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work with Spike Ventures as a venture fellow this year. I aim to learn fast while staying curious and humble — perhaps more on this another day.)
What do you need to grieve about from the past year?
Going through a random bout of insomnia hell. Once it was over, it was like an oppressive veil had lifted, and I could function like a normal human being again. By far one of the most bizarre bodily experiences I’ve had so far.
When did you fall in love with a new activity? Why did you fall in love with this?
Connecting with interesting people working on interesting things.
As an introvert, I'm drawn to interesting people and ideas. Until general AI becomes a thing one day, everything has been built by other humans not much different than you or me. Wouldn't it be cool to get to know these “other humans” personally, learn about what they’re building next, and see if I can help?
But also: everyone goes through hard times. Let’s help each other out.
Concurrently with the above optimistic message, I want to say this: Everyone goes through hard times. If you’re in the midst of something and need help, please reach out. I’m always willing to do my best to lend time to those I might be able to help and those who ask. I can’t promise I have all the answers, but I promise to listen with an open heart and mind.
What wisdom did you gain this year and how did you gain it?
Master the art of storytelling — Taylor Swift made history as the first artist to claim all 10 of the top 10 Billboard songs chart not because of her singing (though she's great), but because of her masterful ability to tell powerful stories that mean something to people. In business and everyday conversations, good storytelling is paramount to getting your point across. Investing is about building conviction with data to back your story. My goal with Health & Wealth is to show others what I see as true about the world (that others may be missing). While I’m definitely wrong sometimes, I try my best not to tell fairytales. I'm far from being a “good storyteller”, but I'm honing my craft every day.
Your 20s are mostly practice — Sometimes I reflect back on my life and think, “nothing I’ve done has truly mattered.” But knowledge, experience, and wisdom compound over time, so what I’m really optimizing for at this point in my life is learning velocity. As I get older, I find myself being able to think and write clearer, connect the dots better, and avoid being dumb more often (hopefully). Invest in yourself, and know the best is yet to come.
Don’t overlook the physical — Prolonged mental states like stress, fatigue, insomnia, social anxiety, and depression are incredibly draining and have both physiological and psychological factors. The physiological aspect is just as important, if not sometimes even more critical than the psychological. When shit is hitting the fan, leave no stone left unturned. Even (and especially) when you most want to push it under the rug. You have one body — take care of it because your life depends on it.
Hike your own hike — It’s incredibly tempting to fall into the trap of mimetic theory, wanting what others want, seeking validation and prestige for the sake of it. For a long time, I was caught in the never-ending hamster wheel — good grades, good college, good career. It takes conscious effort to stop myself and ask, “wait, is this really what I want? Or only what I think others want for me?”
Choose intentional commitment — Our upcoming wedding has made me reflect more on the profound benefits of intentionally committing to things — from your life partner, where you live, to what you choose to focus on. In the age of overabundance and endless optionality, intentional commitment must come from within. Otherwise, you’ll always be hugging the x-axis.
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A behind-the-scenes glimpse at my writing process
Sometimes I'm asked how I come up with my ideas. The truth is, I'm always incubating and writing in my head, even when I'm not in front of my computer screen. Knowledge and wisdom are cumulative. When I have a place to organize and capture my random thoughts and tidbits, it's easier to connect the dots. I call this my learning and content-generation engine:
This system is far from perfect (not to mention very ugly), but it works. Each tab on the Kanban board contains my thoughts, links, and excerpts. For more fleshed-out ideas, there are pages nested within pages, like Russian nesting dolls.
This is also a preview of what I may (or may not) eventually write deep dives on. If you have ideas or expertise in any of these topics (genomics, reproductive health, AI-driven life sciences, digital health, synbio, longevity, investment research, etc.) and would like to help, please reach out. I'd love to learn from you.
Happy New Year! Excited to continue this journey together. I’ll be around SF city center next week — if you're in the area, I'd love to meet up.
Christina