I’m an amateur word nerd. Nobody pays me to rave about etymology or to irritate my friends with my Wordle score every morning. But I like it that way. Being an amateur is wonderful. After all, the root of the word is “one who loves”. Is there any better reason to do something than…
Category: Happiness
Your Wins Exist. Celebrate Them.
I’ve always been obsessed with the future. As a child, I dreamed of asking my house robot to fly my car for me. If you’d told me about an impending vast network of connected computers, I’d have been thrilled at the prospect. After all, what results could that possibly produce except uniting humanity through…
What to Do When Trying New Things is No Longer Exciting
Suffering comes in many flavors, but one of the cruelest is when something we used to love becomes a chore. Disliking something that once brought me joy makes me feel sad, hopeless… and even a little guilty, as if I’m betraying myself somehow.
I feel lucky that, these days, most things I spend…
Anatomy of a Failed Month
Not every month can be great, but last year I had one which was a total disaster. They say a picture tells a thousand words:
After adapting to a national lockdown in January, I found a great productive rhythm. But last month everything went wrong simultaneously. Let’s look back and analyze what happened….
Can Niceness Change the World?
Like seemingly everyone I know, I watched Ted Lasso last year. It’s an Apple TV series about an American football coach being appointed as a manager in real football—or soccer, as it’s also called.
But this isn’t a typical sports show. I’ve seen the premise of Ted described as simply “what if a…
Have I Really Missed My Chance?
Back in the 1990s, my teenage self always looked forward to Tuesdays. Partly, I just liked them. But Tuesday was also the day when a friend-of-a-friend updated his website, and this was always a treat.
Can I Be Happy with my Mediocre Life?
Hello! I’m of average height. My clothing is generally unremarkable. My ability to carry objects is middling.
… yeah, I realize this is an unusual way to greet you. I do that sometimes. So I suppose not everything about me is average.
But, statistically speaking, I have to admit that I am…
You are Original. Here’s Why.
When I was nine, I wrote a story about my friends and me fighting giant spiders while we vanquished a great evil. The reviews were spectacular: five stars from both my parents! My literary career was off to a great start.
But a single comment from one reader, a family friend, has stuck…
Let’s Become Specialists. In Failure.
It seems hard to believe, but there was a brief time when I was genuinely worried that I’d failed too little.
Does Adversity Really Make Us Stronger?
For years, the universe has refused to respect my wishes. In particular, I often experience things which I didn’t want to happen. And it’s unclear who I’m supposed to complain to about this.