#9: Problems make you happy.
Some of the most important truths in life don’t make sense on the surface, but once you get beneath it, the world will never look the same.
I noticed this the first time I fell in love. There was a girl in my high school class I liked a lot. Shoulder-long, brown hair, beautiful face, a heart-melting laugh, and eyes I could’ve stared into forever, or at least until the bell announced the next algebra session.
Like most high school kids, I thought I just needed to be nice and loving for her to reciprocate my feelings. Spoiler: It didn’t…
…but repel them instead.
Attraction is a tough topic.
Men and women both sometimes go to ridiculous lengths to woo potential partners. But well-meant isn’t always well-done, as overinflated lips and guys posing in front of rented Lamborghinis show.
I know what it’s like. I tried to be the “alpha” guy for years until I realized the very behaviors I thought made me attractive turned me into the sexual equivalent of stale goulash soup. But men aren’t the only ones selling themselves out.
Both sexes do stupid things to be more attractive, but as a man who’s spent a few years of his life…
Lessons from hitting rock-bottom.
Two years ago, I was in a dark place. Mindless and pointless distractions ate away most of my time. A toxic relationship and negative friends held me back and sucked the energy out of me. I studied something I didn’t enjoy and had no idea what to do with my life.
Today, I’m earning money with what I’m passionate about. I’m in a healthy relationship with an incredibly supportive woman who checks most of the boxes. The toxic friends who once wreaked havoc in my life do so no longer. I know who I am, I’ve got a clear trajectory…
What I learned from one of the most intriguing people I ever met.
Everybody knew Tristan — given the university size of 40,000 students, that was no easy feat. But if you spent more than five minutes with him, you knew why.
He was that guy. Women, men, and everyone in between flocked to him like bees to a honey pot laced with cocaine. He’s still on my mind despite the fact we haven’t met in over three years. Without a doubt, he was one of the most intriguing people I ever met.
We all want to be a little bit of a Tristan, being so interesting we have people glued to our…
Life’s too short to stress.
There are plenty of things that can ruin your day. An angry email from your boss, the bill that did to your bank account what the 2020 locust plague did to East Africa, the soft and wiggly mass on your belly, and the first grey hairs that sprout from your scalp. However, you don’t have to stress and worry.
Instead of losing your shit like an incontinent seagull, ask yourself two simple questions.
What You Think You Worry About Often Isn’t What You Worry About
I’m a gym rat. I rarely miss a workout, but when I do, I can already see my fatass self losing all gains and increasing in circumference…
#37: In life, it often pays to take the most scenic route, not the fastest.
In his podcast, The German bestselling author Lars Amend recently answered a question not many parents think about enough: What are the essential life lessons you want to teach your kids?
Even though I’m nowhere near having children — or maybe because of that — most of what he said resonated with me.
There’s no perfect way to parenting, just as there’s no perfect way to live a life. But with a few reminders and profound lessons, you can equip yourself and your offspring with the right tools for the journey.
Turns out Germans are good at things beyond Sauerkraut…
Your life-changing insight could be just a few pages away.
Books are an awesome tool to help you learn, grow, and live a better life — but they have a downside.
There are tons of them — 140 million, according to the Google algorithms. Even if you read one per day, it would still take you longer than the wait for the last Game of Thrones season felt.
The life-changing insight you need could be just a few pages away, but you don’t have time to go dig through tons of dead, flattened trees. …
Don’t say “I wish I had” when you’re old.
Everybody’s got a bucket list. But life doesn’t just consist of Instagram-worthy adventures, parachute jumps, and off-tune Happy Birthday songs. Quite often, we do things we later want to erase from our memory.
I’ve crashed two motorbikes, cheated on my first girlfriend, and spent six years on a master’s program only to quit close to completion. Could I have done better? Sure. Do I regret anything? Not at all.
Here’s the thing about life: You will mess up from time to time. It’s inevitable. Gandhi, Buddha, your mum — they all made mistakes and so do you. …
3 reasons why you repeat your mistakes — and how to stop it.
One fateful morning two years ago, I hopped on my motorbike and brought the sound of 126 HP channeled through an aftermarket exhaust pipe to my neighbors’ ears. Little did they know it would be the last time I upset them.
When I took a corner too fast, the dreamy ride turned into a nightmare. I heard my tires screeching, then woke up under the guardrail. First, I looked down ragged cliff, then realized with horror I had hit a cyclist coming the other way. To this day, I’m grateful nobody was hurt.
This was the third accident I had…
“Hey, let’s trip on LSD for a week straight!”
Disclaimer: The aim of this article isn’t to glorify my behavior but to share the lessons I learned. If you think you’re cool because you do drugs, you don’t understand them.
I’ve taken illegal drugs for years — and I regret nothing.
The number of substances I’ve experimented with is in the double digits and over time, I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve felt sky-high with pupils the size of saucers but also watched people overdose and shit themselves on the dance floor. …
