Exile Lifestyle

A heightened awareness of what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and how our actions and words and public personae might be interpreted by others can be a source of satisfaction or shame. And the line between one and the…

Over the years I’ve learned to run toward foreboding feelings when I identify them. I’ve consistently found value in noting and confronting things that scare me; small things, substantial things, dangerous things at times. Much of this value is derived…

We’re living through a period of inconvenient, dangerous, uncomfortable upheavals. The variables shaping our lives are changing daily and many of us feel some combination of frustrated, scared, exhausted, and desperate for a semblance of clarity and control. That’s how…

I initially feel an unnerving isolation when I’m disconnected from the wider world. Such moments are often forced upon me by circumstance: when mid-flight over a vast expanse of ocean or tucked betwixt bags and chickens and goats while rambling…

Happiness is good—I like feeling happy. But much of the time my internal state is more complex than one word can contain. Maybe I’m happy with a hint of malaise or whiff of chagrin or the subtle tang of disquiet.…

It’s that time of year again—Please Buy Literally Everything season—and as such I’ve been thinking about consumption and marketing and all the other ingredients that when whisked together, make this an especially frantic, expensive couple of months for many of…

Sometimes creation is like riding an air current: your arms are spread but you’re coasting along with relative ease, tapping into a natural (if invisible) force and using it to get where you need to be, even if sometimes your…

I’ve spent most of the past 12 years reassessing and realigning. In essence, I’ve been trying to better understand myself and what I want out of life: what I think is important, how I want to spend my time, who…

I started a new podcast called I Will Read To You not long ago, which is exactly what it sounds like: just me reading a variety of things and then publishing that audio. There were several ambitions underpinning this project,…

I’ve been thinking about opportunity a lot as I’ve revisited some old opportunities—those pursued and those set aside—and started in on the process of shuffling and assessing and selecting from some contemporary ones. Important to recognize in any discussion about…