LIFE FEELS WILD right now. Goals I’ve been working towards are falling into place, such as healing my body, finishing my second book, and embarking on a new chapter here in Japan.

There’s a lot that I’m gonna miss, specifically, the people here in Osaka. People are everything to me, and it’s sad to think I won’t see many of the familiar faces I’ve come to know for a long time, perhaps ever again.

It’s difficult to move on, even when we feel we must, for we know what we’re leaving behind: friends, routine, familiarity.

We can’t foresee what’s written in the next chapter, which is a justifiable reason to never turn the page; but my heart is pushing me in a direction I can’t ignore. It hasn’t let me down yet.

My friends are coming to visit me in Japan, and we’re gonna travel to South Korea. I want to take a break from doing to enjoy where I’m at and process the incomprehensibility of it all.

I’m still figuring it out just as much as anybody, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not afraid. I have no job in Tokyo, no place to live yet, and just a few friends I’ve made while traveling, but nothing like I’ve created here in Osaka.

And with that is a fresh opportunity, for it’s not what’s out there which scares me; the thing I fear the most is staying where I am.

Yet, I love where I am, what I stand for, what I’m creating. It’s been a gradual climb to get here, full of setbacks and pain and so much fucking love.

I know this is just the tip of the iceberg — still, progress means nothing if we can’t take the time to look around, breathe the air, and appreciate where we are.

I have full faith — inspired by the people I admire — that anything worth doing will take time. A lot of time.

“The greatest impediment to creativity is your impatience,” writes Robert Greene in one of my favorite books, Mastery, “the almost inevitable desire to hurry up the process, express something, and make a splash. You must come to embrace slowness as a virtue in itself.”

“When it comes to creative endeavors, time is always relative. You will always experience a sense of impatience and a desire to get to the end. The single greatest action you can take for acquiring creative power is to reverse this natural impatience. You take pleasure in the laborious research process; you enjoy the slow cooking of an idea, the organic growth that naturally takes shape over time. The longer you allow the project to absorb your mental energies, the richer it will become. Time is your greatest ally.”

This wisdom from one of my creative heroes provides much needed peace of mind.

But it doesn’t merely apply to creative pursuits. It pertains to understanding and developing our deepest sense of self; but of course, creativity and the exploration of our innermost nature entwine inextricably.

We mustn’t rush what we’re meant to do, but rather see our success both inwardly and outwardly as the journey of a lifetime that’s meant to be savored, even if it’s difficult, even if it seems hopeless.

Because wherever we are, these are the years that we will look back on and wish we’d held on to.

When we cross that arbitrary finish line which we imagine will make us happy, what’ll truly change?

This, this, this is what matters, the daily experience, the individual steps, that take us from where we are to where we’re going.

It’s writing this newsletter in my tiny Osaka apartment an hour before I head to my last day of teaching English, looking at the calligraphy on the wall I made last week, the photos of my friends, the tokens of travel and the memories of the last year and a half.

This is the reward — sending my heart to you.

It’s okay to have fun. It’s okay to enjoy yourself.

If you at least want to know: What am I meant to do with my life? What am I doing here? What do I want? Then you’re on your way.

You don’t need the answers.

Go and live the questions, have a laugh about it all.

Appreciate the mystery, the uncertainty, the years of wandering and exploring who the hell you are.

We’re gonna take two steps forward and one step back. We’re gonna make a left when we should have stayed right. We’re gonna eat shit and fall on the ground, wallow in some mud for a while, get back up and continue walking.

All that matters is that we’re still moving.

It’s trite to say that the journey is the destination, but it’s trite for a reason, because it is true.

There is no destination, but the steps that we walk every day.

I love you all, so much. Happy holidays, and I’ll see you in 2024 to hit the ground runnin’.