I started this blog as a way for me to reflect on my relationship with my girlfriend Haley. I was hoping that it would help me find our strengths and weaknesses and lead to some good conversations and opportunities for growth.
This turned out to be a really good idea. It has helped me reflect on things I normally wouldn’t have and helped me understand Haley a lot more. The simple act of writing out in words different parts of our relationship has become a large driving force for our relationship. I hope some of my realizations, practical applications, and failures can help you grow your relationship towards happiness and healthiness, too.
As you will certainly notice in my articles, I like to read a lot and think critically about the contents of these books. I mostly reference nonfiction, relationship/self-help books. However, I do enjoy a good bit of fiction as well. Some of my all time favorites include:
- The Alchemist by Paulo Cuehlo
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- Ender’s Game/Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
- Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris
Because I do a lot of reading, I am constantly evaluating other people’s opinions or ways of looking at the world and seeing how they compare to mine. I have learned that in order to do this successfully, I have to always be willing and ready to be wrong. By being open to new ideas and ways of thinking instead of assuming I know best, I have gotten quite good at learning from other people’s ideas. Even if I think they are wrong, I still try to pull out the nuggets of insight, or at least better form my opinion by refuting theirs. A quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that I try to live by is, “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.”
I really enjoy both psychology and philosophy and am fascinated by the way the human brain has evolved.
I always try to bring optimism and hopefulness to my thoughts and actions. I am very much a realist, but choose to find the positive spin on a situation where others might wallow in the negative.
I am very data driven in my thinking and the way that I live life, and I have a small obsession with statistics and how they make everything in life so much more predictable and easier to understand.
Finally, I have a love for comedy and all things related to the art of joke telling. Not much beats the feeling of having a joke land and being rewarded with laughter. Some of my favorite stand up specials of all time are:
- Eddie Murphy – Delirious
- John Mulaney – The Comeback Kid
- Richard Pryor – Live in Concert
- Steven Wright – A Steven Wright Special