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All-Star Break

Posted by JLin

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Happy Chinese New Year everybody!!

Growing up, I always loved Chinese New Year because it meant family time and red envelopes!! Red envelopes were so awesome because I had no allowance and no income. Since I never got allowance (and couldn't earn an income, obviously) at a young age, I would get so excited when my relatives would give me red envelopes stuffed with money. As I get older each year, I'm able to increasingly appreciate Chinese New Year and all the culture behind the holiday. This year, I was able to have a delicious meal with close family and friends.



All-Star break for me was an awesome time of relaxation and family time. My whole family trekked all the way to upstate New York to visit my little brother, Joseph aka BabyLin aka WeiWei aka JoeLinsta. For those of you who don't know, Joseph had a breakout year including leading the league and being top 5 in the nation in assists as well as leading his team in points, assists and steals. He recently fractured his tibia, so we went to cheer him up! The weather was pretty much always in the negatives so our family just spent most of the time in the hotel playing MahJong and Monopoly Deal. We also got to celebrate my Dad's birthday and he sternly warned me that I couldn't pie him in the face like I did my mom. All in all, it was an awesome and refreshing time away from the grind of the season.




During the season my diet is really strict, and it's rare that I stray from it.  But the first two days of All-Star break, I ate anything and everything that I wanted. I'm notorious for how much I eat and how quickly I eat, so when I say I was unstoppable during this food binge, I mean it haha. I was killing it with chips, pizza, ice cream and more, but after the 48 hour window stopped, I went back to my normal diet of grass-fed beef, chicken, vegetables, and healthy fats. I also got a chance to get in the weight room and gym multiple times during All-Star break just to clear my mind, rebuild my body and prep for the rest of the season.

As the second half of the season is underway, I hope to play better, play more, be more consistent and finish the season strong. Two specific areas I want to target are limiting my turnovers and increasing my playmaking efficiency, especially finishing at the rim. Thus far, this season has been quite a learning experience, and even though it's something I would never want to go through again, I know it has challenged me and pushed me to adjust and improve my game.

Spiritually, I have been just trying to focus on my relationship with God rather than always focusing on trying to get somewhere or improve in some way. I guess if I could make an analogy it would go something like this. If I were hanging out with family, I would spend more time just enjoying them and being in their presence rather than obsessing everyday on how I can be the perfect family member/get to the "next level" as a family/accomplish our life goals. Basically, I want to enjoy each day with God and enjoy the journey, rather than always thinking about the destination that I want to get to.



At the end of the day, faith and my relationship with God is the most important thing to me, and that gives me the focus to wake up everyday and keep going. There have been times of discouragement and disappointment, but I'm learning to better walk by faith -- to trust that God turns everything for my good and that His plans for me are always perfect. Even though I can't always see where my career is headed, I know who I'm following and that gives me the comfort and the strength to press on joyfully.

Lastly, I will provide you guys with an important update regarding my gaming habits haha. I recently gave up Boom Beach as I started playing Puzzles & Dragons and Trivia Crack. For whatever reason, I can only handle 1-2 Gaming Apps at a time so those are my two that I'm current playing. And I'm looking forward to Season 3 of House of Cards!

That's all for now...thanks for reading!!


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