I Blew Up My Life in 2023. Here’s What I Learned.
Hard-earned lessons from the ultimate chaos year.
A year ago, today, my life changed. Harder and faster than it ever had before. So I packed a suitcase and boarded a plane from Austin, Texas, to Huntsville, Alabama. That suitcase and that destination were, at that moment, all I had.
Yet beholden to nothing and no one, I could reimagine my entire life from scratch. And so I did. And in the whole year since, I decided to inject as much chaos into my life as humanly possible. Just to see how far I could go, and how much different I could become.
Different I would be: it started with leaving my half-empty pack of cigarettes on the credenza and never smoking another. 20 years at a half-pack a day went up in (a lack of) smoke.
My journey would take me on a white-knuckle dash across the US and beyond, with multiple stops in multiple cities from New York to Los Angeles before ultimately settling in San Juan.
So much else changed: I would lose a partner. I would leave Austin after 14 years, and leave my car and home behind.
I would start my business, and I would pivot it. I would achieve new heights in my career as a [*rolls eyes*] “public intellectual”.
