courage : The Art of Non-Conformity

Travel

Uncomfortable Is Not Unsafe

TLDR: Being uncomfortable is not the same as being unsafe. Avoid things that are fundamentally unsafe, but move in the direction of your discomfort.

When I think about my early years of world travel, there are a few times where I genuinely felt unsafe. Those aren't memories I care to relive, and overall I feel very fortunate to have been to all sorts of places that most travelers avoid: Libya, Syria, Somaliland, Afghanistan, and so on.

Most of the time—by an enormous margin—I felt safe everywhere I went. I was almost always treated well and helped by total strangers.

Life

What is the bravest choice you can make right now?

If you want to be more courageous, you have to make brave choices. Sounds simple enough—but how do you know which of those choices to make next?

When I first thought about the question for myself—what’s the bravest choice I can make right now?—I didn’t have an obvious answer. And that felt a little discouraging!

It was like being in a room with inspiring people, all talking about the big important projects they’re working on, and when my turn comes I say something like “Oh, I don’t know … I’m pretty much doing the same stuff as always.”

Profiles

“Busy Is a Bullshit Word”: How 16 Days Rafting the Grand Canyon Changed a Life

How do you escape the disorienting world of always being busy yet never appreciating your life? For Angie Stegall and her husband Nelson, they took a forced vacation that turned into an epic adventure.

We weren’t happy, Nelson and me. With each other, yes—but with our lives, not so much. Our busy lives were lived in a city we felt very “meh” about. So when we had the chance to check off an item on Nelson’s bucket list—rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon—for 16 days, we decided to do whatever it took to go.
As it turns out, that white-water journey changed the trajectory of our lives.

Et Cetera

“Maybe you didn’t need that treasure after all”

Once you go down the road of adventure, you don’t always know where you’ll end up. This video of a cartoon quest made me smile. ###

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Life

Some Things You Can Do Right Now to Change Your Life

Happy with your life? Everything's perfect? That's great. This post is not for you.

Everyone else, keep reading.

There are two popular theories of change-making:

#1. Make small and incremental (but regular) changes. Mix it up.

#2. Do it all at once. Quit smoking immediately. Take cold showers. Enter boot camp for the soul—whatever you need to do, don't wait.

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Life

The Bravest Thing

What's the bravest thing you've ever done? I asked this question last week and was flooded with hundreds of great responses. Here are many of them, with links to the people who were brave enough to share. (All of these comments were shared publicly, and there are also 80+ responses on our Facebook page ...

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Life

Fearless?

This one goes out to all the people in the world who are afraid of something. Oh wait—perhaps I need to choose a smaller audience. Trying to write for everyone is usually a mistake.

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Life

A Short Collection of Unconventional Ideas

GENERAL A year after you leave college, no one will care what your GPA was. Once you fully understand what you want, it’s not usually that difficult to get it. At all stages of life, people will gladly offer you unsolicited lists of things you “must” do, be, or have. Most of the time you…