About These Posts

Each day I add a new journal entry to my social media feeds. Here, I take that day’s entry and expand it through the lens of my Good Life Creed, which you can read about in my book Going Alone (available for free on this website). These dissections aim to connect ordinary reflections with the enduring objectives and principles of the Creed.

Journal Entry (10/17/25)

The life I left behind in America has called for much of my attention this week. Moving overseas is like that sometimes—there’s a spell of quiet peace before our responsibilities catch up and our conscience reminds us of what we left undone.

The illusion of freedom lasts longer when we are young—healthy, unburdened, and imagining time as an endless road stretching forward without care. But when we’re young, we also know less about what to do when reality comes knocking to remind us that life, even lived well, is never without its claims.

Age softens the surprise. I’m less startled now when reality catches up, rings the bell, and asks to be let in.

Dissection

This reflection captures the mature acceptance of life’s unending claims—the realization that even after great effort and distance, some parts of our past remain alive and calling. The tone is calm, reflective, and tempered by the quiet wisdom that comes with age.

#Well (The Principle of Life Will Not Go Well)

Peace is never absolute. Even in retirement, life demands attention, correction, and unfinished tasks. Recognizing this truth brings not cynicism, but clarity—the understanding that ease and disturbance take turns in the rhythm of being alive.

#Temperance (The Principle of Temperance)

Rather than resisting life’s interruptions, there is balance here—a measured composure that meets reality without irritation or denial. Temperance is not passivity, but calm proportion: knowing when to act, when to pause, and when to simply open the door.

#Maturity (The Principle of Maturity)

Age refines our responses to life’s surprises. What once provoked anxiety now meets steadiness. Maturity is this capacity to greet reality with grace, to accept its return visits as part of the ongoing conversation between what we plan and what simply happens.

Takeaway

Freedom is never total, nor is it meant to be. Life follows us, as it should—reminding us that even peace must coexist with responsibility. Wisdom lies in hearing the knock, answering it calmly, and letting life back in without resentment.