Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
An insightful, feel-good blog about work, life, and the elusive balance between the two, by career counselor, award-winning resume writer, and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
The world moves so quickly.
Prices and temperatures rise, stores change hands, technology reinvents, products cycle out, hip people become unhip, language evolves…
And all of us chasing after these things, trying to stay on top of it all, to be in the know.
I get overwhelmed a… Read more...
We bought a ridiculously huge Slip N Slide.
Technically, it’s not even a Slip N Slide. It’s a commercial grade, 40-foot long inflatable blue water slide with 7-foot tall inflated rings that spray water down on you as you slide through. It takes up our whole yard.
(Fortu… Read more...
The Art of Chill evolves over time. It’s a craft I’ve been practicing since birth.
In youth, it’s about taming your anxiety about the future, being okay with not knowing what lies ahead, taking your hits gracefully. It’s remaining poised and relaxed while … Read more...
My mom is starting to lose her memory.
Sometimes there are sweet moments, like how she reveres a sunset from her balcony while we drink Budweiser tall-boys.
And then there are the hard moments, like when I watch her forget where she is while walking down the street, when she messe… Read more...
When someone you love is struggling, it’s easy to make the mistake of sending too much help too quickly.
Your commotion, though with good intention, is likely causing more waves and people don’t need more waves when they’re drowning.
They need your steady, reliabl… Read more...
My peeling deck is a trophy.
The damp garage, the unmanicured garden, the semi-clogged drain, my frayed hoodie.
Though ugly and inconvenient,
these things
are proof
that my focus is in the right place.
When Evaline was a kid, I took her down to Jack London Square where the pavement runs straight for a good half mile. We brought her bike, which she barely wanted to touch, hadn’t touched since we got it.
It was early enough that there weren’t many people out, just us a… Read more...
Epiphanies can be deceiving.
Once we figure out the way – Eureka! I’ve found it! – we tend to disregard all other paths. It feels good for a while but, in the fog of euphoria, we stop looking around. Holding tightly to our compass, we become crotchety.
Simply by t… Read more...
Oh, I wish I hadn’t read the comments section.
All I wanted was to read the news.
I scrolled down too far, and BAM, there they are:
Angry people with differing views.
—
Oh, I wish I hadn’t read the comments section.
It’s such a sad sight to see.
Opinions are flyi… Read more...
I have a teenage daughter who loves everything about the human body so I get to relearn all the facts I forgot in high school.
Everyone knows that breathing helps you calm down but I think we forget what’s actually happening on the inside to make the outside more bearable. I… Read more...
