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It seems like i was first exposed to (or at least noticed) about half the principles around which i seek to build my existence through my incredible friend Boris. I especially remember the moment i learned the one alluded to in the title.

I don’t remember the details of what we were talking about or the exact words we exchanged, but it went something like this — as one often does, i eventually acknowledged something he had just drawn my attention to by saying that, “unfortunately, i don’t have time for that.”

Ironically, we were out camping to see the Perseids!

Patiently and kindly, as usual, he encouraged me to reflect on what i had just said, and rephrase it as “doing that is not a priority for me.”

I’m not going to say this is easy to implement and i’m now enlightened, even though that powerful lesson took place nearly seven years ago — i still don’t always notice when i use lack of time as an excuse. But when i do, it feels like i was either telling myself an uncomfortable lie or relieving myself of an unnecessary burden — if this is indeed a priority, then what can i drop? — and if it isn’t, then can i just let it go?

Time is all we got — 24 hours a day, approximately. We’re always doing something — in other words, we’re always NOT doing everything else.

If you struggle with time management yourself, whatever the context, i invite you to try this out. Let me know how it goes!

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Featured photo: waking up to an awe-inspiring fog pool (Borzhava Range, Ukrainian Carpathians, Fall ’18)

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‘Trelograms’ is a wordplay between ‘telegram’ and ‘trélos’ (Greek for ‘mad’)

Trelograms: inspiration

People sometimes expect me to have great stories to share. And i do have a few of those and hope to get a few more when i get back on the road next month, although i’ve written before about how unremarkable much of my lifestyle ultimately is — as well as the remarkable that is probably hidden within anyone’s most mundane experiences.

One of my favorite websites on the whole visible Internet is História Sem Graça — a collection of non-stories submitted and curated by readers. For those of you who can’t read Portuguese, this is how it works:

1. Readers submit stories;
2. Other readers judge them — if they’re good stories, they DON’T get published on the website!

This was the top one on the feed at the time of this writing:

“o cara que eu gosto estagia comigo, sento atrás dele pra tentar olhar sua bunda”

História Sem Graça, accessed on March 29th, 2019

It freely translates into something like, “the guy i like is an intern with me, and i sit behind him so i can check out his ass.”

Brilliant!

Seriously, isn’t that a significant part of most people’s lives — looking for opportunities to check out the asses of people we find attractive without being noticed?

At least that’s a great deal of what i did while riding my bicycle during the two years i lived in Copenhagen, especially when waiting for the green light — i must have been contemplating the magnificence of my friend’s legs for about seven seconds already when she turned around and we finally recognized and greeted each other — i felt a bit embarrassed, but she said she was flattered!

But i digress.

Had the story on top of the feed been another one, i’d have likely written a whole other unremarkable trelogram — at the core, most of what i’d like to share with you is probably as interesting (or embarrassing) as what you may have experienced last time you took an elevator.

How was it, by the way?

Seriously, if you feel like sharing, i’d like you to tell me the least remarkable event that you can remember in your life this past week — actually, no — least remarkable is too remarkable still — tell me something average!

I don’t know . . .

Damn, the harder i try, the harder it gets!

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Featured photo: for whatever reason (or perhaps no reason whatsoever), i collect photos of conspicuously parked red vans — this one was seen at 6:01pm on August 12th, 2018 by the Sknylivs’kyi Park in L’viv, Ukraine

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‘Trelograms’ is a wordplay between ‘telegram’ and ‘trélos’ (Greek for ‘mad’)

Trelograms: inspiration

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

I saw this inspiring quote at a friend’s place a couple of years ago, and it still comes to mind quite often. I finally looked up who may have said that — i don’t know if this is who she got it from, but the same author has a few other pearls, such as this one:

You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.

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Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and social activist

The message today is short: Go for it — start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can!

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Featured photo: studying sunset colors and exposure from my window (Ukraine, March ’19)

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Trelograms: inspiration