Review of Homecoming

Posted on May 19, 2021 by admin
Homecoming|John Bradshaw

Homecoming is an incredibly profound book by John Bradshaw. It was a great introduction for me to inner child work. I’m still no expert on it but now that I’ve finished working through Homecoming, I see how powerful and healing it can be. Here are my thoughts on this wonderful book.

Despite all the progress I made last year, I still had a hard time working on painful experiences from early in my life. Because I would often feel extremely uncomfortable or get distracted when bringing up painful memories, I didn’t have much success in working through them. That all changed this year. A regular customer at my job recommended Homecoming to me toward the end of last year so I ordered it and put it on my shelf. Back in January I received a sign that it was time to start working through this and boy did it pay off big time.

Right away, I knew that this book would be a game changer for me. Healing began immediately after the first set of exercises and that healing only became deeper as I continued. I was surprised at how quickly the healing occurred even though I was going slowly through the book. I spent anywhere from a few days to a week or more going through each chapter. I’d read straight through a chapter at my usual pace and then, either later that day or the next day, begin working through the exercises. That normally took at least a few days as I gave myself plenty of time to allow everything to come up, feel through it, and do whatever else the chapter had in store for me (more on that in the next paragraph). Accordingly, it took me about four months to work through a book which would normally have only taken me two weeks at most to read. The slow pace was worth it as I effectively worked through the exercises that allowed me to fully experience painful emotions that I had been carrying my whole life and sit with them long enough to heal from them.

Homecoming includes a lot of incredibly powerful exercises. I did most of the exercises in the book, focusing primarily on the ones that seemed to be the most transformative for me. There was a lot of writing about my early life experiences, including writing letters between my current and younger selves. I often felt surprised at what came up during the letter writing and was moved to tears on at least one occasion. There were also exercises related to communication, setting boundaries, and peacefully resolving conflicts. I’ve done a lot of work on each of those so it was great seeing them incorporated into this book. What I found most effective were the affirmations and meditations for different developmental stages. I used my old phone to record them and listened to them when I had enough time to go through them. I found all of this to be extremely powerful and healing. One of my primary love languages is words of affirmation so I especially loved hearing those loving affirmations in my own voice. In these ways, Homecoming gave me almost everything I wanted and needed as a kid but never got.

Parts of Homecoming lined up perfectly with the technique described Letting Go. Having read the latter book several times and practicing the technique regularly for many months helped me immensely while working through the former book. Additionally, Letting Go talks about not resisting the positive emotions. Homecoming is full of of positive emotions, affirmations, meditations, and reminders, so allowing myself to feel the positive was extremely beneficial for inner child work. If you’re interested in going through both books, I highly recommend reading Letting Go first and Homecoming second.

One of the few things I disliked about Homecoming was how Bradshaw would occasionally say that the wounded inner child contaminates one’s life. That came across to me as blaming someone who had already been hurt and blamed for many things despite not actually being responsible for them. The pain and struggles many of us face in adulthood come from our upbringing, not our younger selves. I’d rather he have written those sections in a way that came across as having more compassion for the wounded inner child (as was the case in the rest of the book). Also, I felt that Bradshaw was being premature in advocating compassion for abusive parents. While I understand and even appreciate giving compassion to parents who were themselves hurt by their own parents as kids, I think that compassion and forgiveness must come after the healing has occurred. It’s extremely difficult or even impossible to truly forgive and have compassion for someone who has hurt me deeply while the wounds are still unhealed. There must be a time of working through all the feelings of anger, sadness, frustration, depression, rage, and everything else that comes up. Once the pain is gone, then the compassion and forgiveness flow naturally. Those were my only issues with the book and fortunately they were minor issues that didn’t detract from the great stuff.

I’m so grateful for all the beautiful freedom Homecoming has given me. This is one of the most powerful, freeing, and transformative books I’ve ever read. It came into my life at the perfect time: I started it shortly after a year of unprecedented personal transformation and worked through it in the midst of several other deeply healing experiences. I can’t single out any one of them as the most beneficial since they all supported each other and the earlier ones prepared me for the later ones. Still, it’s clear to me that Homecoming was a major player in providing the deep senses of peace, compassion, empathy, and love I now have for myself. It gave me an incredible amount of healing as well as some wonderful tools that I’m sure will help me work through my remaining struggles. All of that is making it easier to be my true self and that’s the person I’ve always wanted to be.

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Why My Approach Works for Me

Posted on May 12, 2021 by admin

Whenever I work on myself, I don’t reframe things in my mind in an attempt to heal from them. That doesn’t work for me. No matter how much I’ve told myself that the situation isn’t that bad, that I will soon feel better, that my anxiety is lying to me, or that what I did doesn’t make me a monster, it has never made me feel better. Here’s why.

For me, emotions create thoughts. I know this to be the case since my emotions can be running wild while I have no thoughts whatsoever. Further, in states of deep presence, I can notice when the energy from an emotion is beginning to turn into a thought; I usually laugh when I notice this. Because emotions come before the thoughts, attempting to fix things on the level of thought doesn’t do anything for me. Even though I can understand any perspective, I can’t accept it or benefit from it without first working through my emotions.

As you might have guessed from my many blog posts about surrender, allowing my emotions to run their course without resisting them is what has made all the difference for me and constitutes the vast majority of my inner work. When the emotions have run out, one of two possibilities occurs. First, my perspective on the situation will automatically change without any effort from me. I’ll then be able to fully accept a viewpoint that I was unable to accept when it was still blocked by a lot of unprocessed emotions. The other possibility, and the one that seems to occur more often than the first, is that I forget about the situation entirely. That is especially nice because I don’t have to have any particular perspective on it; it’s completely gone, as if it never happened in the first place. Should it cross my mind again, it will arrive and leave quickly with a sense of peace. “Yeah, that happened” is how I can best describe my outlook at that point; simple statement of fact without any emotional attachment. I’ve experienced this firsthand as some things that once used to occupy my mind almost nonstop rarely come up now that I’ve fully let them go. With either possibility, I arrive at a place of peace without having to question, challenge, or otherwise attempt to forcibly change my thoughts.

This is by far the most helpful approach I’ve found on my healing journey. I learned it from the book Letting Go by David Hawkins and I suspect that it will also work well for many other people. If your brain works differently than mine, this approach may not work for you. If, however, attempting to reframe things or forcibly change your thoughts hasn’t done it for you, then I would highly recommend this approach. It may be exactly what you need.

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Risk

Posted on May 5, 2021 by admin

Is it acceptable to put another person at risk of harm without their permission? If so, what type of harm, what degree of risk, in what situations, how often, and why? If not, why not, and how might that force some or all of us to change our behavior to avoid unacceptable risks or consequences? These are some important questions that are both unanswered and rarely even discussed. However, I see a lot of people having conversations about risky behavior as if these questions have been seriously considered, thoroughly discussed, and answered to the satisfaction of most or all people. With all of that in mind, here are some of my thoughts on the difficulties involving questions about risk.

Driving is a good example with which to start. All driving carries some type of risk, whether to the driver, passengers, or bystanders. No matter how well the cars are maintained and driven, there is always a risk that something will go wrong and someone will be injured or killed. That risk may be close to zero but it is never zero. What, then, is the solution? Get permission to drive from everyone within range of a car before hitting the road? Even if possible, that would be extremely difficult and time-consuming. Further, by the time everyone within range has given their permission (and there may be some occasional holdouts that would make unanimous consent impossible, and would driving then be impermissible in those situations?), there may be some new people within range who would then have to also give their permission. If it’s not acceptable to put someone at even a minuscule risk of being injured or killed without their permission and such permission cannot be achieved, then that would spell the end of car travel. The same would go for air travel as air travel, even if it’s safer overall than car travel, still brings its own set of risks, such as being able to fly over a much greater distance than one can drive and thus put more people in potential harm’s way. No more driving to work, no more flying within or between countries, no more plane shipments, no more fire trucks, and no more ambulance. Those would be a few of the many changes that this would require.

In the example of car travel, what risks are acceptable and what risks are unacceptable? The answers depend on who you ask. Someone who wants things to continue largely as they are may point out all the pros of car travel and all potential cons of a public transportation system. Conversely, someone who wants a public transportation system may point out all the pros of such a system and all the cons of car travel. The difficult task is getting both people to take an objective look at each approach and weigh all considerations fairly to determine the better way to go. However, even if it can be clearly determined which system carries the least risk, that still doesn’t determine whether or not risk is even acceptable or answer the other questions at the start of this post.

Another important consideration is what risks would come from a massive shift in behavior. Sticking with the car example, suppose everybody did give up individual driving. How would that impact everyone’s ability to work, receive emergency assistance, visit their loved ones, escape from danger, etc? If everyone would be worse off overall without individual driving, would that make the risks of individual driving acceptable? If there are no perfect solutions, then the only other option I see is a trade-off that involves minimizing harm and maximizing benefit. That’s not my ideal answer so I keep searching in the hope of finding one.

I have no definite answers to any of the above questions. Further, I’m not convinced that any objective answers can be reached. It is absolutely possible to reach a variety of answers via subjective means. One way is by looking at each situation separately and coming up with individual solutions each time rather than developing a general approach that is meant to fit all situations. Another one includes everyone involved all coming to an agreement about what they want to do and what risks they’re willing to face. A third possibility involves using if/then statements to bring about an ought rather than trying to have an ought with no if/then qualifier (for example, “If you want to be healthy, then you ought to eat healthy foods” vs “You ought to eat healthy foods”).

Rather than providing answers, this has been my attempt to point out some potential problems with existing views about risk as well as attempt to start a much-needed conversation about risk in general. I’d much rather us be able to talk about these and other related issues so we can decide for ourselves what kind of world we’d like to live in rather than have those decisions made for us by people who neither know us nor have our best interests in mind. This has been my take on risk and now I’d like to hear yours. How do you answer the questions in this post? Let me know so that we can all have this long-overdue conversation and use it as a starting point to improve our world.

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The Poetry of Language

Posted on April 28, 2021 by admin

Writing, as with everything else, is easiest when the mind is still and ideas are allowed to flow freely. A writing block I sometimes experience comes from trying to make it perfect on the first go. I can overcome this block by giving myself permission to simply record my thoughts as they come to me without caring how they’re arranged. I almost always go back later and edit what I’ve written but, while the ideas are flowing, the only important thing is writing them out.

Sometimes I see people arguing over grammar or the “improper” use of language. Having a foundation in grammar is useful. It gives you a framework within which you can learn to speak, read, and write, in addition to making it easier to communicate with other people who speak the same language. Once you’ve gotten a feel for language, though, it’s much more fun to throw the rules out whenever you like. Sometimes the best way to communicate is grammatically incorrect. For example, they say not to start sentences with a conjunction. But if that’s how you want to communicate, go for it. Also, no fragments. None. Never. Nope. How about ending sentences with a preposition? You could say “This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.” While that puts the preposition closer to the middle of the sentence rather than at the end, it’s more awkward to say and more difficult to understand than “This is the sort of nonsense I will not put up with.” When in doubt, I personally go for ease of understanding rather than grammatical perfection or rhetorical flair.

Speaking of flair, let’s talk about style. Style can keep people interested in what you’re saying but the most stylish speech that’s lacking in substance is nothing more than auditory entertainment. With little to no depth, it is soon forgotten as it leaves no lasting impression on the listener. Substance with style is where it’s at, and the best style to use is your own. Your personal style comes from the very core of who you are, allows you to share your perspective of the world as only you can, and doesn’t even attempt to copy someone else’s. While your style may be influenced by several speakers and writers you love, it will still be uniquely yours, just as it should be.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Many of the most famous and celebrated writers took liberties with language at their convenience. Their works are beloved despite, or perhaps because of, their grammatical flexibility. Sometimes using slang, a contraction, or an unusual phrase makes a line flow more smoothly or resonate more deeply within the soul of the reader. Only the biggest sticks in the mud would criticize the form of these works when their function is superb. This ability to bend, break, and banish the rules isn’t reserved for only the best writers, however. You can do it all you like, whether you write for an audience of one or an audience of millions.

The poetry of language is a wonderful playground for anyone who wishes to enjoy it, so don’t stress over keeping your writing and speaking in line with “proper” grammatical constraints. The best works are heavy on the artistic side and light on the technical side. Play around to find your own voice and style that lets you have fun in your own way. The best way I can think to close is with Stephen Fry beautifully displaying his deep love of language. Take care and enjoy using language in a way that makes your heart sing.

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The Source of My Struggles

Posted on April 21, 2021 by admin

Serendipity has been my constant companion as of late. Most commonly, it’s appeared in the form of reminders about self-love. I’ve gotten this message more times than I can count over the years. Friends, employers, mentors, passages from books, and flashes of insight during my quiet times have reminded me of the importance of being kind to myself. It took me a long time to start listening and seeing how this applies to my life. Even then, it was only within the last week that I fully realized how the lack of sufficient self-love negatively impacts both my mentality as well as my performance at almost everything I do outside of solo activities. Feeling as if I’m not good enough or that I won’t be able to handle what’s on my plate often acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy. More often than not, I manage to do well, but I still feel uncomfortable throughout the process and the relief at the end never lasts long or translates into long-term confidence.

I feel best whenever I’m being super kind to myself and my hardest times occur when I’ve forgotten the importance of that compassion. Thanks to regular reminders, I’ve spent a lot of time in the past week working on this. During a coaching session earlier this week, I gained many insights into what’s going on and what I can do about it. My inner judge, as I initially called the feeling of hardness and condemnation within myself, is there to keep me safe from things that scare me. That I’ve known for a long time now, so I asked it what can be done to convince it that we’ll be able to handle whatever comes up just as we’ve handled everything else thus far. The answers were to make a list of successes, lean more into who I want to be, and surrender to the flow of life rather than resisting it. I also asked it if there’s another role besides judge it would like to have. Confidant and friend were what came up, and part of those roles involve helping me solve problems and keeping me on track. The insights from that session gave me a huge sense of relief. I’ve spent time each day working on integrating everything that came up and it’s already paying off.

This feels like the big one for me. If I can get this sorted out, everything else will fall into place. This is the source of most (if not all) of my anxiety, depression, discomfort, paranoia, strained relationships, and fear that I’ll flub everything outside of a narrow range of activities. I’m determined to make these realizations stick by continuing to work toward where I want to be. Even then, I’m going to keep working to maintain that progress so that I don’t backslide into my old, harmful habits. What’s on the other side of fear and pain? Nothing but freedom, and that’s where I’m headed. I’ll see you there.

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Take My Ideas, Please

Posted on April 14, 2021 by admin

I once heard economist David Friedman say something along the lines of “When you’re young, you’re afraid somebody will steal your ideas; when you’re old, you’re afraid nobody will”. Though I’m quite young, I still resonate with Friedman’s statement. That’s why I share so many ideas, whether they’re my own or someone else’s (and I always credit other people when I mention one of their ideas). My blog is the main way I share the ideas I find fascinating and valuable, mostly because I can still communicate my thoughts much more clearly in writing even though my speaking ability has improved tremendously over the past few years.

Additionally, even though I plan to write and sell at least a few books, I’m still going to freely share what I learn through my blog and in meaningful conversations with people who share one or more of my big interests. Whether I’m discussing an original idea of mine or one from somebody else, I want to give anyone who finds it fascinating the opportunity to use it. Why keep the good stuff to myself when I can so easily share it and give others the chance to benefit from it as well?

I don’t want my ideas to die with me. Even if I put my ideas out there as often as I can, that accomplishes nothing unless someone grabs hold of them and puts them into practice. That’s what I want more than almost anything else in the world. Accordingly, I request that you address what I share on my blog in the same way that I address everything I come across: take whatever you find valuable and leave the rest. Many of you already do this and I appreciate that so much. It lets me know that I’m regularly providing value for you, so please keep telling me whenever you find something in one of my posts that resonates with you and I’ll keep sharing what I find as I continue to get better at living and enjoying life.

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Black Swans and Unintended Consequences

Posted on April 7, 2021 by admin

Within the past few years, I learned of the term “black swans”. Black swans are things that never even cross your mind as possibilities until after they happen. The term came from back when all swans were thought to be white, thus nobody would ever even think that they might see a black swan; seeing one caught them completely off guard. This reminds me that nobody really knows as much as they think they do, especially about future events.

I’ve long been a fan of the phrase “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” My version is “Good intentions don’t automatically guarantee good outcomes.” Lots of bad things have occurred, even when people were trying to do good, because there are tons of variables that can’t be controlled or, in some cases, even known. Therefore, unintended consequences are all but guaranteed, especially with large ventures that involve a lot of moving parts.

There are consequences with every decision you make. It can be easy to forget that because sometimes you like what happens and so you may not consider those outcomes to be consequences. Keep this in mind whenever you think one course of action won’t have any negative consequences. Also, weigh all possible consequences instead of considering any of them to be impossible; you can’t know in advance which ones will or won’t occur. A plan can unfold quite differently in reality than how it worked out in your mind.

Uncertainty also often comes into play in interactions with other people. At times their intentions may appear obvious, but is that actually the case? Do you truly know someone else’s intentions or do you just assume you know them? What if their true intentions are quite different than the ones you appear to have detected? Assuming the worst often results in needless trouble so it’s best to be careful by talking with them to find out what they actually believe and want.

It’s easy for me to miss potential problems in my own ideas. Something that helps me find such issues is to listen to people who criticize what I have to say and take their points into consideration. I can be my own positive critic when I’m in the proper state of mind. However, since I have trouble doing it consistently and effectively, I don’t rely on it as my first line of defense against black swans. Additionally, I enjoy working with other people to smooth out the rough edges and create something better than either of us could develop on our own. As I become more self-aware and at peace within myself, I’m able to more easily notice my own blind spots and work around them. That’s been wonderful, though they still catch me by surprise every so often. We’re all susceptible to black swans and blind spots. That’s one of the prices for being human. What we can do is help each other notice them and avoid falling victim to them. That’s how we all get to the next level.

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More of My Thoughts on Celebrating Victories

Posted on March 31, 2021 by admin

A few years ago, I wrote a post on the importance of celebrating your victories. I’ve learned a lot since then and I’d like to share more of my thoughts in this post.

In Letting Go, David Hawkins mainly talks about releasing negative emotions. However, he also describes the importance of letting go of the resistance to feeling positive emotions. Some people have a hard time allowing themselves to feel happiness, excitement, joy, peace, love, gratitude, etc. Maybe someone close to them punished them for expressing joy or otherwise taught them that it’s not ok to feel positive emotions. Even if those people have left their lives, they may still hear those voices whenever they start feeling really good; that can serve to shut down those good feelings. By noticing that resistance and allowing it to pass, it can be released so that it no longer blocks the positive emotions.

I’ve learned how important it is to celebrate my wins, big and small alike. For a long time, I would win a victory and just move on without realizing or enjoying my accomplishment. I still do that at times. Whenever I don’t celebrate a win, part of me says “So all that effort was for nothing? Ok, no more of that, then.” If I’m real quiet, I can hear that and it serves as a reminder to celebrate. Celebrating is a way to reward myself for the effort it took to achieve that win. In this way, celebrating wins paves the way for more wins.

Keep in mind that you didn’t “just” do something. You accomplished something you once thought impossible. That’s huge! So what if you did it in a sloppy, meandering, or otherwise imperfect manner? That’s the first step and it’s often the hardest step to take. Celebrate! Next time you enter that situation, you’ll have some experience with succeeding when you previously only knew failure. Your success and smoothness with that success will only increase as you continue accumulating experience and celebrating each win.

So many people spend their whole lives mourning their losses and a few seconds, if that, celebrating their wins. They might not think that their wins are big enough or impressive enough to celebrate. The people around them might not think they’ve done anything special. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of your accomplishments. All that matters is that you appreciate and celebrate your wins. Maybe you showed yourself some kindness where you normally are incredibly hard on yourself. Maybe you reached a new milestone with your health. Maybe you reconciled with an old friend after a falling-out. Whatever it is, big or small, you’ve accomplished something great and you deserve to feel great about it.

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The Hidden Blessing of Exhaustion

Posted on March 24, 2021 by admin

I’ve felt more exhausted, both physically and emotionally, over the past few months than I have in a long time. During that time, I’ve also had more personal growth than anytime I can remember since last year. I’ll explain why I see the two as being connected.

The biggest source of my exhaustion is sleeping troubles. This isn’t my first foray with that issue. When I first got into mindfulness back in 2017, I had a lot of nights with little sleep. That largely cleared up once I learned how to ground myself before bed. However, late last year as well as this year, even with my best grounding techniques, I’d still often have a lot of trouble sleeping. My nights became better once I put more focus into letting go before bed of whatever was on my mind, whether it was current events or old issues.

I think there is another possible explanation for some of my hard nights. It takes a lot of energy to suppress unwanted emotions. As I let go of the deeper, more painful emotions, that frees up a huge amount of energy which I can then use for other purposes. That extra energy can make it hard to relax and fall asleep at night, especially on days in which I don’t expend much energy. Even when I manage to fall asleep, I often wake up many times during the night. As I get used to that increased energy and start putting it to good use, in addition to being more physically active during the day, my sleeping troubles largely disappear.

Since my sleep has improved, my exhaustion and anxiety have both lessened tremendously. Part of my current anxiety comes from knowing what my next steps are going to entail. Common concerns such as fear of failure and wondering if I’ll be able to accomplish my goals are often in the back of my mind. In addition to letting go, I find it helpful to envision how my plans are going to help people live better lives. That also reminds me how I’ve been guided each step along the way and how I’ll continue to receive such guidance as things get more and more real.

Exhaustion isn’t entirely negative, though. One beneficial aspect of feeling exhausted is how it forces me to spend more time in solitude. I get enough social interactions from my job and an occasional event with friends to feel satisfied in that department. However, as I can still get drained from prolonged social activity, the last thing I want to do after sleeping horribly and going to work is hang out with anyone. That gives me time to work on myself, write, plan my next steps, and recharge so that I’ll be ready for whatever comes my way. I think that I’m learning how to avoid giving my energy away to people or things that I’d rather avoid and I’m sure that’s going to help me a lot going forward.

In addition to all of the above, I felt better last week after I got in touch with a friend who has relevant experience with some aspects of my big plans. That conversation gave me some encouragement as well as guidance for my next step in turning my vision into reality. Now I feel much more calm and I look forward to seeing where I go next. The path of growth may be bumpy much of the time but it becomes a lot more fun as I learn to enjoy the bumps. That perspective is going to serve me well as I keep moving forward, one bump at a time.

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While I Still Have Time

Posted on March 17, 2021 by admin

For most of my life, I’ve had a feeling that I’d die young. Many writers have done so for various reasons. I think there’s a definite connection between writing and instability. Those who have good things to say see things differently than most other people, and that, I think, requires being more than a little off. Fortunately I don’t drink alcohol, smoke, or use recreational drugs, and I’ve learned a lot about managing my emotions in a healthy way. So aside from a poor diet and not a great deal of physical exercise, I’ve managed to avoid a lot of pitfalls that caused the downfall of a number of writers.

That sense of foreboding is a large part of why I’ve created so much content and why I feel such a drive to get my ideas out there. Whenever my time comes, I want to be spent. I don’t want to leave with a lot of things left to say or do. When I was a little kid, I thought that I’d one day run out of things to think about. Now I realize that’s not a possibility. It feels like I’m never going to run out of ideas, perspectives, or things to discuss. Like there’s no bottom of the barrel for me to scrape. Maybe there is and I just haven’t gotten there yet. Maybe it’ll take four or five more decades for me to get anywhere near it. If so, then I want to be as close as possible to that point before I go.

I’m far from the only person with a major interest in the intersection of psychology, spirituality, and self-improvement. However, I feel confident in saying that I’m the only person approaching it in the way I am and with the plans I have. That’s why I want to share my outlook and approach to life as much as I can while I still have time. If I can get the ball rolling on some big projects based on things that have done me so much good, then anyone who’s even remotely interested in that stuff can benefit from it even long after I’m gone. I’ve lost track of how many books I’ve read after the authors of those books died. Even though I never interacted with them, I still benefited from their insights and experiences. I want to do the same for those who come after me, starting with my writing and then through other means. That way whoever wants to look at the puzzles I’ve pieced together can do so even if they never meet me.

I’ve still got time. Occasionally, though, it feels like not enough. Not enough time to learn what I need to learn, process it, understand it, combine it with everything else I know, and put it into words that almost everybody can comprehend. What if I get into an accident that prevents me from learning or sharing what I’ve found? What if I die right before I get my bigger plans moving in a way that their momentum will carry them further than I ever could by myself? Those are some concerns that keep me going and keep me focused on the important things.

I don’t always think about it this way and I don’t think this mindset is the sole motivator behind my actions. For example, I’ve always been interested in sharing my thoughts with others because of the joy it brings both of us when they encounter something special. Additionally, I’ve somehow made it through a number of events that could have easily killed me, so I think I’ll be able to do most if not all of what I have in mind before my time comes, whether that’s in a few years or a few decades. As long as I can honestly tell myself that I did everything I could to leave this world better than I found it, I’ll be content when I leave, and that’s what matters most to me.

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