13 years, 13 lessons—life, love, and that whole humanity shebang
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13 years, 13 lessons—life, love, and that whole humanity shebang

sharing some brain muffins for my 13th rebirthday



13 years ago, I traded home for the world. A great deal, if not without sacrifice. What started out as a one-year baby-trip is now a teenager. Enough time to learn a thing or two or thirteen. For my 13th rebirthday, I want to share these little brain muffins, each one accompanied by a new print to drive that lesson home.






  1. don’t borrow from tomorrow


It’s easy to envision happiness, inner peace, and self-actualization as places to arrive at. It’s harder to perceive them as places we’re already inhabiting. Given that our favorite future might never materialize, while the present is a given gift, here’s a makeshift manual for finding what we are looking for here and now, not then and there:

read on








  1. the less you need, the more you have


The more things we own, the more things own us. During my first year of travel I was robbed at gunpoint and lost everything—an involuntary lesson in going minimal and one of the best things that could have happened to me. Here's why:

read on








  1. whatever you choose, coincidence chooses you


We like things to be predictable and plannable, but without divine skills those attributes are above our paygrade. We’re merely overengineering a cage to capture the mirage of a controllable life. Life can, does, and will change from one moment to the next without us having a say in it, and I’ve learned that in the softest and hardest ways. Here’s the key to survival in an inherently chaotic world:

read on







  1. we have differences in common


Exploring humanity’s fabric across the globe, one finds a stunning complexity of patterns but a unifying simplicity at the thread level. Here’s my take on why we need both diversity and unity:

read on







  1. routine shrinks memory


Our memory is a river. To interrupt the daily flow, you need to drop anchors—distinct moments that the mind can hold on and return to. It’s easy to remember the day you swam in a turquoise rainforest stream. It’s impossible to remember the office Wednesday before last. Routine shrinks entire years down to days because they are all the same in retrospect. This is my take on how to pack some extra into the ordinary to create lasting memories:

read on







  1. be a perspective detective


Everything is a matter of perspective, so we best get some. As much as I love for my ambitions to drive me towards dreams that are as far as they are fat, I mustn't forget to check the rearview mirror to see how far I’ve come already. Here are some tips to exercise the perspective and appreciation muscles:

read on


And here are some perspective anecdotes if you’ve got nothing better to read:

read on







  1. more good people wouldn’t be bad


What the world needs most are good people. Plain and simple. Not leaders, not scientists, just good people. Everything else is a perk. With climate chaos, lust for war, and abysmal disparities looming, humanity will have to come together or else. But how do we find or form good people?

read on







  1. it’s opposite day every day


We all crave pleasure while nobody cares for pain. But pain and pleasure are on the same scale, forever linked. So are hot and cold. Life and death. These opposites cannot exist without each other. I already made the case for good people (#7). Read on to find out why shitty people have their place too.

read on







  1. good friends come fast and go slow


When you intersect with people along desire lines (those informal pathways created by foot traffic between society’s paved roads), it is likely that they are likeminded. They are in the same place as you are, doing the same thing. And tuned into the same wavelength’s frequency, you might harmonize instantly and on levels that transcend culture, profession, and age. Mere moments shared with such instant friends can bond you for life. But don’t discard your childhood friends quite yet:

read on







  1. the place does and doesn’t matter


My trip taught me early on that the place matters less than who you share it with and what memory-making experiences you get up to there. Further into my journey I realized that that’s only half the truth. Read on for the whole truth and nothing but the truth:

read on







  1. if your expectations are tall, prepare for the fall


Fellow travelers are always quick to build tall expectations for you, based on their personal experience in a place. That’s how they ruined Rio, Istanbul, and Thailand for me. Well, Thailand was also a mosquito’s fault. Read on to find out how one mosquito can ruin an entire country, and how to moderate and not moderate expectations inside and outside of travel:

read on







  1. live fulltime


If a day has 24h, which they usually do, 8h of work and 8h of sleep make up two thirds. In theory, the remaining 8h are for living, but in practice we’ll have to deduct the time we spend in the kitchen, in the bathroom, or in traffic, running errands or obeying other obligations, unless we consider doctor’s appointments and the likes leisure activities. There isn’t all that much time left for living at the end of the day, but there are ways to get some back:

read on







  1. real love is a fact


I don’t know if “the one” exists (just that our odds of finding them make the lottery seem a sure bet). What I do know, for a fact, is that real love exists. Here’s how I know:

read on








There's really no need to get me anything for my rebirthday and travel anniversary, but if any of these brain muffins were to your liking, that print has your name on it—well, my name, but, you know. Limited editions of 13 in a 13"x13" (33x33cm) format.


Thanks for tagging along,

Miles

 
 
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