Story of Mindfulness (Rediscovering My Passion for Coding

I used to love coding and creating cool things. Seeing my ideas come to life through code was thrilling, which led me to become a Software Developer. But over time, the stress and workload started draining my enthusiasm, and I felt burnt out.

I wanted to find a way to rediscover my passion for coding. I remembered a moment from college that reminded me why I enjoyed it.

A Memorable College Experience

One day, our department was busy with accreditation work, but we still had our Data Analysis Lab session. My class and I were stuck in front of slow Windows computers with R installed and limited internet access restricted to educational sites. With some time to kill, my friend and I decided to make the most of it by creating something interesting with R.

The first question was: What should we create? I noticed my classmate was looking at plane tickets to visit home, which sparked an idea. We decided to build a project analyzing flights around the world. This simple thought excited both of us and set us on a new path.

Next, we needed to figure out What tools to use and where to get data. Within 15 minutes of searching, we found an API listing all the airports worldwide, including their latitude and longitude. We also found helpful guides on how to use the Leaflet package in R.

With these resources, we started the project. We pulled data from GitHub, cleaned it up, and used the Leaflet package in R to visualize it on a map. But we soon ran into a problem—the data wasn’t showing up.

We looked up solutions online, checked forums, read through documentation, and tried different things. After some effort, we managed to fix the issue, and our map displayed all the airports around the world, just as we had imagined.

Encouraged by our success, we decided to push the project further by adding real-time flight data. After some more searching, we found an API that provided the information we needed. Excited by this new challenge, we continued coding.

Integrating real-time data brought new problems, like data parsing errors and display bugs. We tackled each problem one at a time, staying focused and determined despite the time pressure.

After 2 hours and 45 minutes of hard work, we completed the undertaking. We built an amazing flight analysis dashboard that showed real-time flight data from around the world. The project was challenging but also a lot of fun, filled with problem-solving and learning.

This experience reminded me why I love coding—facing challenges, finding solutions, and bringing ideas to life. It helped me reconnect with my passion for software development and showed me that with curiosity and persistence, anything is possible.

A new hobby.

To rekindle my love for coding, I started a new hobby. Every Sunday morning, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., I put my phone on silent mode to avoid distractions and immerse myself in coding. During these two hours, I challenge myself to learn and develop something interesting using a technology I’ve never tried before. Whether it's a new programming language, a different framework, or an unfamiliar tool, I dive in with curiosity and no pressure to be perfect. This practice not only helps me learn new skills but also reminds me of the joy and excitement that comes from creating something new from scratch.