Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
A self-less, feel-good blog about love, life, and work by career coach and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
When I was in 5th grade, I wore my mom’s clip-on earrings to school.
Actually, they were my gramma’s earrings, that kind of old, decorative jewelry with the plastic jewels where the metal doesn’t really shine.
It wasn’t meant to be a statement. I just kinda … Read more...
I woke up slightly hungover, throat thrashed from singing Nirvana, Boys II Men, Extreme, and The Commodores. I still had my smiley face scarf in my hand, glitter eyeshadow spritzed across my pillow. Downstairs, empty bottles, crumbs on plates, “wounded soldiers” and w… Read more...
Yesterday we found out Evaline got into a bunch of good schools.
I danced a jig and ran upstairs to call my brother. Molly went into her Facebook groups and forums to share the news and do more research. Hazel went back to her iPad, and Evaline put in her AirPods and scrolled TikT… Read more...
I was pulling the car out to get to the garbage bins. but instead of leaving the car idling in the driveway, hopping out, and finishing my chores, I just kept backing out.
At first, I was just going to go around the block and pull back in, but the beats were good, and it was a war… Read more...
On the last day of packing up my childhood home, I rubbed my hand along the molding that held all of the hash marks of our heights through the years. And with the sight of each penciled-in slash, that feeling of a ruler on my crown.
And shoes… shoes are so hard to throw away… Read more...
My first smile came from an unexpected source: the image of 5 Latino guys, covered in mud and rain, laughing hysterically outside my basement door.
Here’s the unfunny part. Our drainage system broke down, and we needed to install a sump pump and a whole new line of undergrou… Read more...
I’m not sure where we were headed, but we were on a mission. It was clear to both of us that we needed to get somewhere, despite our sore feet and sore backs.
“Storm Cloud.”
“I see it,” I said, looking over my shoulder. “We should head back under… Read more...
We dragged our 7-year-old to the Alameda Flea Market, kicking and screaming and clawing for her iPad as we pushed her out the door. Secretly, I thought about staying home too, mostly to work on an online course I’d been building for how to look for work.
Glad we didn’t… Read more...
Entitlement elbows Kindness right out of the room.
When someone is entitled (e.g. “This is mine for the taking”), they eliminate the possibility of being assisted.
People around them get the message and put their hands down. They may cheer for the entitled person, but t… Read more...
Checking email can feel like a race. Respond, respond, delete, archive, respond, flag as spam, delete, delete, delete. But it doesn’t have to be like this.
We should remember to invite things into our inbox that we want to see, things that bring absolutely no stress with the… Read more...