This is a story about deciding to move to Berlin. It's about life shaping and shifting. Plus, a thank you to the people who have helped make it possible.
Personal Growth
Articles about Personal Growth, Learning and Development – At Home and on the Road
10 Life Lessons from Learning How to Surf in New Zealand
This is a story about losing our surfing virginity on the beaches of Raglan, a town on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It’s also about taking a step back to appreciate that learning to surf is a lot like learning to live life itself.
Pursue the Precious: A Maori Blessing
Sometimes in life, we find ourselves fortunate enough to be surrounded by so much beauty that we can feel a bit like we are drowning. In these moments, we need a dose of wisdom, an aid in context that allows us to grasp it all at once, to properly honor it, to put it into perspective.
Travel-Reinforced Life Lessons and The Why (Our WDS Presentation on the Short)
The following is a selection of twelve lessons we shared in our talk at the World Domination Summit (WDS), plus one of those aha! moments.
The Power of Redirected Negative Energy: A Lesson from Istanbul
People who regularly practice a martial art know that sometimes the greatest power for the positive is the redirection of the negative. People who regularly practice travel and human interaction know this, too.
This little story is case in point.
Keep Tickin’: Life Inspiration from Nonagenarians
Last weekend, I arrived in Asheville, North Carolina to visit family. And boy, was I tired.
The last two months have been chock full: traveling from Central Europe to Crete to Istanbul to Iran, back to Istanbul, Germany and finally to a series of family visits up and down the east coast of the United States.
But I’ve been feeling a little spent. It’s not only the movement, but also my head, to the brim with fresh experiences and quite frankly deprived of the time and space to properly process them all. Amidst the fatigue, I began to wonder if perhaps I had reached some limit in what I could do, what I could take on.
The Importance of Saying Thank You
This is about saying thank you: why we do it, the ways we do it, the cheapening of it, the deepening of it. And why, when you're traveling, it's one of the most important words to know in the local language.
40 Life Nuggets at 40
I turned 40 yesterday. Yep, I’m almost hesitant to admit it. Almost. There are days where I’d like to think I’m suspended permanently at either 23 or 33. But that's not the way time, this construct we’ve created to capture the constant state of change in the world around us, actually works.
Climbing Kilimanjaro: Life Lessons from the Top of Africa
A few ideas on how climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to the top of Africa can teach you something about life.
For some, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is another check box on a “to do” list. For me it turned out to be a journey — in its own way, an epic exercise in achievement.
Facing Fears, Wiping Out, and Getting Up Again
Early last week, I was about to write about fears and the process of facing up to them. I would talk about traveling to places that once frightened me, meeting and interacting with large groups of new people, and jumping out of airplanes. Then, I would channel all those fears known and met through a more recent apprehension I'd tackled: riding a motorbike.
I would ride off into the sunset and deliver a life lesson about what a great feeling it is to overcome fears, to do something that scares you.
And then I crashed.