At the beginning of 2025, I remember feeling restless in a way I couldn’t quite name. Nothing was particularly wrong, but I wasn’t at peace. Over time, I began making small, intentional changes. A quiet resistance to the noise, urgency, and constant self-optimization that modern culture rewards. Those choices, modest as they may seem, reshaped…
Lessons I Didn’t Expect to Learn in 2025
War and Peace
“We can know only that we know nothing, and that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” — Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace Alright, kids. Buckle in. I’m about to be merciless—perhaps even a little cruel. If you proudly claim the title of bibliophile and have not read War and Peace—yes, that War and Peace,…
The Greatness of Soul (and Why Aristotle Still Has Something to Teach Us)
“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics My copy of Nicomachean Ethics is old and secondhand—its margins filled with the earnest pencil marks…
The Elusive Art of French Macarons
Few endeavors are as maddeningly precise, as whimsically delicate, as the French macaron. These ethereal confections, with their glossy shells and frilly feet, are less a pastry and more a minor miracle—a fleeting triumph of human ingenuity over the chaos of egg whites and sugar. They are the culinary equivalent of catching starlight in a…
Thoughts On the Death of Pope Francis
Most of you know that I grew up Protestant — Southern Baptist, in fact — and I held, as many Protestants do, a certain cautious distance toward the Catholic Church. When I first began considering conversion, I faced one obstacle more than any other: the Pope. From the outside, it seemed the Church taught that…
Slower Mornings & More Cups of Tea
Life lately has felt like a long, slow exhale. I recently made a big move—both professionally and personally. Last Thursday marked the start of onboarding at my new job, and while tomorrow kicks off my first official full week, I already feel like I’m settling into something that fits. Something that feels more aligned with…