Speaking on the woes of the technology advanced Generation Y and Z, start up is a  #kdrama set in  sandbox the silicon valley of  South Korea staring  Bae Suzy, Nam Joo-hyuk, Kim Seon-ho, Kang Han-na, Yoo Su Bin, Kim Do Wan

 It tells the story of  young tech-innovation entrepreneurs trying to turn their ideas and dreams into tangible successful businesses with the help of a competitive incubation hub.

Let's start with what I loved about it...

The  Fantastic Production Quality.

It was amazing! Everyone's skin was glowing, the lighting was just perfection and the colour grading was speaking to the greyish theme of technology. I felt like the first episode could have been a motion picture all on its own. The parents got divorced, the sisters got separated because the mother (Song Seon Mi) remarried a rich man and moved away. The father (Kim Joo hun) loved his children dearly  but chose to follow his dreams and injected all his energy into his business ideas, which kept on failing one after the other....then he dies. I was exhausted after episode one. I took a break and returned a few weeks later.

Grandma steals the show 

Watching our parents/guardians get old and frail is hard. Realizing our protectors need protecting is hard. They used this theme in the #Kdrama so effectively. We felt it.

Grandma, Mrs. Choi (Kim Hae Sook) leads and guides,  while allowing the young ones to make mistakes. She is funny and stubborn and we cannot help falling for her, raising her granddaughter to the best of her ability off the proceeds of her junk food van . When she realizes she will lose her sight completely and there is nothing that can be done to halt it, we are crushed just like the main characters. She continues with her life and business refusing to sulk or  give up on herself.

Great Tough-Growing-Pain-Lessons

We see the characters take big risks in their professional life. It's the typical millennial story....don't we all want to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg?  Many of us will chose traditional paths because those kind of choices require stone brick bravery. Sao Dal Mi puts the team together but ultimately the team has to abandon her for successful greener pastures once their business idea attracts investors. Despite the heart ache, she finds a new place. The hash reality of start-ups is a story well told here. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose but they keep on trying. They must believe in themselves stubbornly but also have the discernment to be agile and adapt when required. 

Won In Jae and Sao Dal Mi are sisters but they seem more like distant cousins because they were not raised together. You'd think Won In Jae would be living her best rich-kid-life but she walks around like she stubs her toe painfully every morning. She wants everyone to suffer. Her step dad (Um Hyo sup)  manipulates both her mother and her, yet her mother accepts the abuse in exchange for the luxury lifestyle. Watching her character arc is a good lesson on taking responsibility for your healing and  behavior. 

Now for what I didn't like....

It draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaags.

Did we really need 16 episodes though?  No....no we didn't. Ten episodes would have done the trick. 

No other love interests for the #kdrama heart throb

For someone who is supposed to be the ultimate heart throb of the series....where was there no competition? No other women throwing themselves at this heart of gold man who earns a high income and is responsible....how?

Start up was okay. I think the first few episodes were great, then it kind of lost itself before picking up momentum near the end. 

What were your thoughts? Comment below. 

You can watch the full series on Netflix here.

I felt  King Crissie's tweet in my soul and I want the t-shirt! I hope she eventually sells some. 

A whole twelve kilograms gained in the last two years, and each one shows on my face, arms and tummy.

It is bad... it's really baaaaad. 

I don't like being in photos anymore.

When I take a selfie I post the 437th one. 

Everyone who knows me, then sees me has made it a point to inform me of my weight gain, then wrap their dig in the 'But you look good though.' Maybe it's to soften the sting? It still hurts.  All I can say is working in close proximity of my fully stocked fridge, kitchen cupboards and the gas stove plus the strict lockdowns escalated things.... Life had been fixing it's adult responsibility claws around me and my general coping skills were lacking. I was working out at home with dumbbells/weights, but I had refused to address the stress, grief and burnout that had been piling up over the years. Forgetting that I had left the decade of my 20s and the adaptable metabolism that comes with it, my body went on strike and refused to respond until healthy actions were put in place. I didn't realize how bad in was until in July 2021 I emerged from my apartment to cover a work event and my colleagues' eyes just widened and widened and widened in quiet surprise. The concerned driver asked if I was okay, as I cluelessly lobbed my body into the back seat of the car. Later that week a colleague made a joke about my 'new fat bum' . Then my regular boda boda guy looked at me for a good thirty seconds before responding to my greeting, he then proclaimed, "Eh...you have really been enjoying this lockdown!" And lastly, my former boss was a saint she didn't say a word when we met for lunch,  Lord knows she must have wanted to tell me about myself, but knowing what I'd been dealing with over the last year she bit her tongue. The extent of my weight gain dawned on me after seeing the photos that were taken during our meeting. I  knew I had to act.  

As much as I want to, I can't beat science

Yes laugh with me 

I repeat, I wanted to use shortcuts and ignore the science of weight loss 

However, you can't... you just can't cheat and win with a bad diet, overeating, anxiety, insomnia, stress, burnout etc....

So...I took a few months off from my workout, removed the pressure from myself.

Took time to fix my sleeping pattern, confront my anxiety and intrusive thoughts,

refocus and re-prioritize. 

Now I am back in the fitness game, more conscious of what I consume and my general mental health. 

Balancing being in a new country, I am learning new things while managing to keep self care at the top of the daily to-do list.

What about you? In the comments tell me how have the pandemic restrictions affected your overall fitness and mental health?  Let's encourage and support each other.