The main thing I want to overcome in 2025 is perfectionism. I have a very hard time making progress on projects until I'm confident they'll be "good", but the problem is that this is a totally arbitrary descriptor and usually irrelevant anyway. Not wanting to do things unless they're perfect prevents me from doing so many things in the first place. It's very frustrating but I don't know how to fix it yet. This is something I plan to work on this year. […1 min read]
This is the second post in a series about things the 2020 pandemic has taught me. The first was that journalism is important. This one is about appreciating my friends and family in a new way. I've always loved the people in my life, but the feeling of actually needing other people, like for survival, is new to me. I've always had this strong sense that worst case scenario I would always be fine on my own. Like if I really had to I could hack it alone, and that might not be ideal but in the end I'd be more or less fine. I realize now I was wrong. […4 min read]
I just came across this TikTok video on Twitter and it broke my heart. It's a woman crying, utterly dismayed at how unfair life is, begging the totally legitimate question "how do people overcome poverty in America?" […5 min read]
I'm really excited that 2020 is over! This was the hardest year of my life so far. It was also the first one that was worse and not better than all the previous ones, which I'm really hoping is not a new trend. When I thought about it a bit I realized I still did a lot of cool things and learned a lot this year though. […12 min read]
I grew up as an outsider to religion. I never considered it a worthwhile pursuit and spent quite a few years as an outspoken critic. As an adult I began to explore it for myself, and I now have what I would count as a spiritual life. I still find most of what religions teach very hard to believe, but I've also found a lot of value in them. My secular education left me desperately unprepared for the hardships of adulthood and, like many people who turn to religion, when life sent me seeking answers I ended up in church. Spoiler alert: I didn't find any answers, but I did find wisdom and traditions that I now believe have great potential. […10 min read]