Sometimes life gives you bananas
To be honest, I don't know what to do with that, only that lemonade ain't an option!
Back in January I set out full of excitement to run the SideQuest project, only to find myself struggling to follow through. In a busy schedule full of climbing, photography, a newfound interest in gymnastics and a full-time job, I hadn’t set aside enough time. I’d set myself up for failure with a non-existent platform. I knew this starting out, however, and was intent on figuring it out as I went.
As my former boss said, iterating on “making it up as you go”; here we make the boat as we row! (and we did, but that’s a different startup story)
Passing my self-imposed Q1 deadline April 1st, I called upon my friend group to help me figure this out. We made quick progress, and within a month things started coming together, and I felt confident I could salvage this. I was even considering pulling out old podcast skills. That’s when life decided it was time to queue the bananas 🍌
Gymnastics training was going well, and I was finally able to do somersaults. There’s something thrilling to spinning in the air, especially as close to the ground as mine were, haha. When I finally got that height right, I completely failed my rotation, though, and instead of somersaulting, I did something resembling a dive - with my hands backwards - ultimately crash landing on my neck. Auch. (Spoiler alert: I’m alive! And able to move all my limbs as I should, which is convenient, to be fair)
I’ll be the first to admit I was lucky walking away from it with a minor herniated cervical disc and the accompanying concussion. At the time of writing I’m coming up on my 6 month marker of my post-concussion symptoms, though, and life has been looking quite different lately. Post-concussions symptoms ain’t no walk in the park. I need to limit my screen time, my social battery is stuck in a somewhat low state, and meaningful days back at the offices are golden, but require a lot of energy.
In a long list of disappointments, not being able to follow up on this project has been one of the things I’ve had to come to terms with. I’m lucky to live in Norway, have an amazing physiotherapist specializing in my injuries, and an employer fully supporting my recovery.
So while I focus on the mundane tasks of everyday life and recovery, exploring new routines and the upsides of limited screen time, I hope everyone is making progress on their side quests!
So what’s next?
I’ll do another season of side quest, that’s a nobrainer! It just can’t be my side quest (that’s a rule - you select a new one every year).
I strongly believe sidequesting lead to more interesting lives, and enable a lot of good in the world.
My ambition for the remainder of this year’s side quests:
Encourage you to follow through on yours, even though I didn’t lead by example (please do it!)
Define that platform for success, so I can do this in a way supporting my continued recovery in 2026
Oh, and please drop me a comment on how you’re progressing. I know a lot of people are curios!
Some times life indeed goes bananas, and I’m glad you got away “relatively safely” Marius as it could’ve been far worse, however still more than bad enough ❤️.
Thank you for hosting the first side-quest for us all! I set a goal for three mini-adventures throughout the year, starting out great with a New Year’s eve overnight camping with India, Maya and you, which was obscenely cold, but a lot of fun 🤩. The next adventure was paddling down Sørkendalselva in tiny rubber boats along with India, Tuva and her friend. I’ve yet to complete my third and final adventure, but curious to see what comes up in the last stretch of the season.