About Me — Philip Joks

I want to leave my corner of the world a little better than the way I found it.

Hi! My name is Philip Joks. I’m glad you’re here.

It feels like it’s about time that I share a bit about myself to give you, the reader, an idea of what I’m all about. I plan to update this article occasionally, so stop by for any updates on my life.

Feel free to use the “Table of Contents” to skip around. I won’t make you read everything, but I hope you do.

Table of Contents

· About Me

∘ Early History

∘ Reading and Writing

∘ My Current Big Goals

· Some Philip Trivia

∘ Travel

∘ My Day-to-Day

∘ Interests

· To Be Continued

About Me

Early History

I’ll start from the beginning. In 2002, I was born in New York into a family of Polish immigrant parents and an older sister of 6 years. Soon after I was born, we moved to New Jersey, where I have lived most of my life.

I experienced a happy childhood and grew up with friends and family as a staple. When I was 8, my little brother was born, and thus my close family tree.

I was never much of a writer. Language arts was one of my worst subjects growing up. I learned to enjoy reading in the second grade, but that ended soon after for reasons I can’t remember.

I grew up as a math person. I appreciated math and science mainly because they came quickly, and I was praised for my abilities. This led to me attending Georgia Tech for Aerospace Engineering in 2020.

I stayed enrolled for two years before concluding that there were better paths for me than engineering. While in Atlanta, I learned more about myself than I did about engineering.

I again fell in love with reading in my second year of college.

Although I left college knowing I wasn’t in love with engineering, I didn’t know what to replace it with. I spent the next year soul-searching, working, and healing in therapy.

In therapy, I learned about my depression, how it’s affected me so far, and how to cope with it moving forward. Therapy and journaling became my go-to tools for understanding our world.

Reading and Writing

I began reading books on self-help, motivation, mindset, faith, spirituality, and a few fiction series starting in college. Since then, I’ve read over 40 books, a small feat I’m proud of.

Of all the books I’ve read, my top 5 so far are:

• “Think Like a Monk” by Jay Shetty
• “Dark Horse” by Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas
• “8 Rules of Love” by Jay Shetty
• “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker, Ph.D
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear

I’m sure my list will change as I read more, but these books have significantly impacted how I conduct my life.

I started writing at the beginning of 2024, following my dream since high school. I want to write a book one day. I feel intimidated by the task now, but I knew I wanted to start somewhere, so articles online are where I begin.

I plan to blog on my website and attend writing classes to increase my writing quality.

The small steps together lead to great distances.

I like to write about whatever is on my mind at the time. I don’t hold many things as drafts; I just let my mind take me on a journey. I enjoy doing it, allowing me to get into the daily writing habit.

My goals on Medium are to practice writing for an audience and to connect with a community of fellow readers and writers. Interacting with the readers directly is fun and lets me know what to keep doing.

My Current Big Goals

At the end of 2023, I became certified as a life coach from the Jay Shetty Certification School. I am creating a coaching business as a Purpose Coach for Young Adults as a way to support people who’ve felt lost and confused about how their lives turned out the way they did.

I also want to write a book one day. I don’t know what the topic will be yet. I know I want to take the time to complete a long-term project like that and leave a legacy.

Lastly, I have dreams of travel. Not the touristy kind of travel. I want to see the beauty of nature around the world. It’s a passion of mine, and I aim to explore it.

Some Philip Trivia

Travel

I’ve had the privilege to travel a lot in my lifetime. My parents ensured my siblings and I stayed in touch with our roots and sent us to Poland regularly over the summer. I’ve also had the opportunity to travel across the US. Unfortunately, being young when I went means I don’t remember much of it.

I did get to live in Atlanta for two years for college, which was an absolute blast, and I enjoyed the experience of being away from home a lot.

While in college, I was lucky enough to study abroad in Limerick, Ireland. That trip taught me much about myself, my values, and what I wanted to become. I made best friends that I still talk to today and got to experience the beauty of the Emerald Isle during its summer.

I wish to travel more throughout my lifetime if my circumstances allow it.

My Day-to-Day

My day-to-day goes something like this:

• Wake up at 3:30 am, get dressed, personal hygiene.
• I journal at least one page, ending with five things I’m grateful for, and then I pray.
• I prep for work, and before leaving, I do a quick French lesson on Duolingo.
• I work as a stocker at Costco from 5:00–10:00 am 5 days a week. The other days of the week, I sleep in until 7:30 am.
• After work, I come home, shower, eat lunch, and occasionally nap if I’m tired.
• After waking up, I read or start writing my article for the day.
• I don’t have much else planned between this point and bedtime. I might go out with friends, watch a show, work on my website, or do any other spontaneous task.
• I aim to go to bed anywhere from 6:30–8:00 pm for quality sleep.

There is much to learn about people by how they spend most of their time. Although it’s not everything, it’s roughly how I spend my days, and I have no shame about sharing more.

My goal is to pursue writing and coaching full-time someday. When that happens, I have no doubts that my routine will change.

Interests

My favorite pastime is being around close friends of mine. I love sharing a good laugh or diving into deep conversations and topics.

I enjoy exercising, like going for walks and playing volleyball. I’m not great at volleyball, but I do love it dearly.

I play my fair share of video games, with my all-time favorite being Minecraft.

I love watching movies and TV shows and obsessing over storylines and its characters.

To Be Continued

If you are curious about anything, comment, and I’ll add to this article as time passes.

This is Day 20 of 30 in my 30-Day Challenge of Writing. Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you enjoyed it.