My journey into minimalism may have started with personal care products. As a man, I likely use far less stuff than women when it comes to personal care, but there is still a lot of stuff marketed to men. For me, my minimalist personal care products are few in number, contain few ingredients, and have […]
as of 5-19-2021 I am a husband, father, brother, son, and friend. I am an environmentalist, photographer, explorer, and storyteller. Each day, I wake up early and declare my intention for the day: to create the highest quality of life for myself and my loved ones, and to help others do the same. My day […]
Are you considering doing a dopamine detox? Do you feel like external stimuli, such as social media, video games and the other multitude of temptations that make up our modern digital world have hijacked your brain? If so, the idea of a dopamine detox, which attempts to reset everything, might be tempting–but it’s unlikely […]
The phones of today are modern marvels, allowing us to carry a phone, computer, television, camera, library, radio, and our entire social network around in our pocket. And they are addicting. Each app is designed to keep our focus. Every color, sound, notification, haptic feedback carefully selected to draw us in and when our attention […]
I was 30 years old, and I had shingles. People my age are not supposed to get shingles. Shingles is a disease for someone twice my age, or so I thought. Shingles is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus, VZV for short. VZV is also the same virus that causes chickenpox. The painful […]
When is the last time you turned over a rock to see what animals were under it? Slugs, snails, pill bugs – these were the first specimens of my childhood study of the natural world. As I have studied the natural world, I’ve only learned how little I actually know. The biological systems that make up our planet are so complex, intricate, and amazing.
Today marks 1 month since I came back from Burkina Faso. Today is also the second day of classes. I’m back at Indiana University to finish out my last two semesters for my two degrees. I first thought that it was going to be great to have something to come back to, going right back […]
I really enjoy the New Year. The parties, dropping of the ball, popping of champagne corks, and hoping to find that special someone to ring in the New Year with are all great. What I really enjoy about the New Year, however, is making New Year’s resolutions. I’m always trying to improve myself in one […]
The past few weeks have been some of the most trying and crazy weeks of my life. I, however, have come out on the other end better, stronger, and wiser after it was all said and done. It all started with the false positive HIV test that I wrote about in my post A New […]
“You’ve been here two years? It doesn’t feel like two years, maybe less than one… It’s because you’re kind. If you’re kind you could be here ten years and it would feel like you arrived yesterday and if you left for a few days it feels like a month.” -Alu