After completely deleting two drafts, I’m taking a different approach.
The third time’s the charm. I’m realizing that writing about myself is significantly harder than I thought. Well, writing about myself is relatively easy but making it worth reading seems to be an insurmountable challenge for me at the moment.
The first two drafts were dreadful. Here’s a quick synopsis: I swear I’m cool and interesting and smart and look at how much I know about writing and how much I’ve read.
Getting anything onto the page these days has been hesitant, painful, and unnatural. Writing has basically become pulling out my own teeth. …
After studying for years and feeling like I was going nowhere, I implemented new strategies and reached fluency
Learning a language can be one of the most rewarding experiences ever—and it does take work.
There’s no avoiding putting in the time, studying the vocabulary, and practicing the grammar but there are ways to make it fun and expedite the learning process.
The man who never missed an opportunity to take a shot at veganism is this vegan’s #1 inspiration.
Anthony Bourdain actively hated on vegans and vegetarians at any opportunity and constantly talked about the beauty of pork. So, being a hardcore soy-boy-vegan-loon, why is he my hero?
I get asked this question often and the first reason he’s a legend to me is because he was an influence on me way before I went vegan. Personally, I’ve been obsessed with the man since I was around seventeen-years-old. I bought a flat-screen television on my sixteenth birthday, shortly after we had moved to a new house and FINALLY got cable TV. — Yes, we grew up without cable. —…
Deal-breakers and trapdoors that are crushing Americans but don’t exist in other countries.
It’s a cliché to say that America is a dumpster fire these days. The richest country in the world has eight-hour lines at food banks, seventeen million children living in food insecurity, and 27 million people without health insurance.
Nowadays, to completely rip up America and the litany of egregious flaws is too easy. I like to add the caveat that my home country obviously has positive aspects and millions of really good people. There are pockets of awesomeness, unbelievable art being made, and crazy great food. That being said, the political and economic situation has deteriorated to the point…
TRAVEL. ITALY
When the travel gods flip a typical tourist experience into a soul-jarring, beautiful moment
It was a warm, overcast day, the clouds occasionally parting, and a blast of the Mediterranean sun would make everyone shed their light jackets as they wandered the ruins. We were sitting halfway up the gallery, resting our legs in the half-circle theatre that was built in the 2nd century BC. After almost a week of travel, we were taking in the quiet. I was ready to leave and take a nap on a beach chair or the flat’s sofa, but then, something extraordinary happened.
Why I wanted to be reminded of Bronnie Ware’s classic book every day and how I’m using it to navigate life.
What are you going to regret on your deathbed? Have you thought about it? If you had thirty more good days, what would you wish you had done differently? Living a life that was shaped by a tragic, unexpected death, these questions are never too far from my awareness.
From childhood, I’ve always had a decent compass in terms of following my heart, but I’ve been attempting to be more audacious in my goal setting. With that in mind, I worked with my mother to craft a new tattoo. …
A short story of an Elmo sticker helping me find peace in a dark place.
The Universe is always speaking to us… sending us little messages, causing coincidences, and serendipities, reminding us to stop, to look around, to believe in something else, something more. — Nancy Thayer
Have you heard of a totem? I heard about the concept in Pam Grout’s fantastic book, To Thank and Grow Rich. From what I remember, she defines a totem as a recurring item, motif, or theme in our lives that is a reminder that all is okay. For some, it’s when they see a monarch butterfly, hear a certain song, or see the same symbol.
It can be…
TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
The best travel experiences usually aren’t picturesque and definitely aren’t planned
Like many Europeans in the summer of 2020, we took advantage of the low COVID case numbers and went to the sea. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good idea. Neither of us got the virus, but everyone trying to salvage their summer and traveling around the continent led to a huge autumn surge in cases. As I’m writing this, it is six months later, and the Czech Republic still hasn’t recovered.
Personally, however, it was a blissed-out trip filled with sun, stone beaches, and the unbelievably clear water of the Adriatic. Our daily routine consisted of a quick coffee…
It’s been a slow and steady journey from fast-food benders and over-sleeping to rising at the break of dawn to pursue my goals.
My college days were filled with munchie-induced-late-night-Taco Bell-extravaganzas and then sleeping until the early afternoon. That twenty-year-old would have a hard time believing the hours in which I now wake, my seven years meat-free, or some of the habits I’ve built. But, somewhere along the way, I’ve become a daily meditator and a disciplined morning routine person.
I’m not sure when exactly it hardened into place, but the first hour of my day is set in stone. It was one small change at a time, over many years, that has now become second nature. …
Mitchell Peterson
Anthony Bourdain super-fan on my seventh year outside of the US, residing in Prague and transitioning from ESL teaching to writing. Instagram: @mitchellglenn
