Hey y’all 👋🏼 I hope you’ve been enjoying Sana’s Notes so far, if there is anything you’d like to hear about from me, just hit the Reply button and let me know! I hope you enjoy this week’s catch-up.

— Sana Tabassum

🍎 food for thought

This week’s notes are a little bit sparse. I’ve been sick. The highlight of this past week was my small London outing to Camden, where I had the most delicious tacos ever 🌮, experienced standard British weather ☔ and even spotted a celebrity 👀 . Surprisingly, this was my first ever visit to Camden, despite having lived in London pretty much my entire life. I like the idea that there are still unexplored gems in this city. The rest of the week has been a bit of a blur.

I came down with a nasty cold, sore throat and fever and am still not back to 100%. But I’m learning to appreciate the daily grind as well as the flexibility of remote working. I would be hating this week if I was doing my 9-5 in an office.

Over the past few years there haven’t been many times I’ve gotten sick, so when it does happen I know I’m in for the full journey. Sidenote: does anyone else get ridiculously hungry when they’re ill? I can’t even keep track of stuff I’ve eaten but I have to keep my energy up somehow 🤷🏼‍♀️. In an effort to keep my creative juices flowing, I’ve been trying to ‘document the mundane’ i.e. film myself doing random bits and bobs in an effort to experiment with cooler and interesting shots.

I’m hoping that through this, I can pick up a few neat tricks and implement them in content going forward. To keep up with what I get up to during the week, make sure you’re following my Instagram where I share daily stories, thoughts and tips!

What I’ve learned 👇🏼

• After a certain age, your body takes control of how you rest. Not to sound old or anything, but I found myself taking involuntary naps at the weirdest hours, and even though I didn’t feel any better after, I think it was just something I needed. So, listen to your body, even if it means missing out on a few things 🤫

• I promised I’d share more about freelancing so here it is — I’m currently working for a social media content agency that manages several clients and has a pretty large team. To no one’s surprise, I got this job through Instagram! Apparently, a background in design and a keen eye for social media has given me a pretty great skillset and I’m now adding a new edge to this team ⚔️ I’ve done a few re-brands and injected my own design elements that are beginning to pay off. You really never know where your skills can take you!

• I’m procrastinating on my next YouTube video. Okay, I know this isn’t something I’ve learned this week but I’m going to admit it. I want to make the ‘cool’, ‘well-edited’ and ‘narrative heavy’ videos to up the quality a little. But in doing so, I’m putting off filming, editing and other tasks because I simply haven’t had the time. I need to fix this by eliminating all the friction.

🍗 content nuggets

There are so many content nuggets piling up in my Watch Later list 📃 and I’ve only gotten around to watching a few so far. But in the spirit of prioritising well-being, I loved this video 👇🏼

I’ve been waiting on a new video by Jed for quite some time, and although there isn’t anything drastically life-changing happening in this video, I love that he’s embracing the idea of learning from your younger self. In this case, two other brilliant creators, Colt Kirwan and Tejas Hullur.

I was also watching Steven Bartlett’s vlog-style video on his new channel, Behind the Diary. In this, he introduces us to the young videographer he’s working with who has decided to put uni on hold and go all in on his passion. Steven has a small confessional where he explains that when you’re young, you should be aiming to fill the first two buckets as much as possible.

I have to say, I agree. Knowledge and skills can get you very far, and sometimes they also unexpectedly lead into the 3rd bucket of networking. The decision of leaving uni isn’t also non-reversible, making this a Type 2 decision — and that’s not so bad, right?

🦋 casual magic

For this week’s casual magic, I wanted to highlight how grateful I am for my home. If you know me personally, you might know that my family and I moved house this year, and this week marked 6 months of living in this new house. Don’t worry, we only moved down the road 😋 but I was still very sceptical at first. I didn’t want to leave my childhood home, my comfort zone and the place that made me, me.

But having spent a lot of my time at home since finishing university, I’ve fallen into a smooth rhythm and a sense of calm. There are now quite a few spaces that I can call my own. I have the privilege of a home office and multiple areas for working. So I don’t want to take any of that for granted. The environment you choose to work or nurture and grow your skills is just as important as what you’re doing 🤍

🔥 on the back burner

There’s not much on the back burner aside from a new content strategy I’m trying. I want to be more present on Instagram, but above all I want to continue to provide help and resources to students. Sometimes, and usually, in the summer, I lose sight of why I started this whole thing because it tends to get pretty quiet in the archi-community. But I really want to start working on some new timely content to help the next cohort of architecture students. If there is something you’ve always wanted to see from me, please hit reply and let me know! 💌

— Sana x