How Dehydration, Hypothermia and Lightning Changed my Life — I held my water bottle filled with bleach with one of my hands. I was attempting to keep my raincoat over my head with the other. But it was all pointless anyway; I was wet to a new extreme. Even after hours of hunching in a kinda-squat position, the storm…

But there are other things you can do. — I once had a (virgin) mojito, and it lead to the most excruciating pain of my life. I still have nightmares about lime, soda water and sugar. I was 12 and in Cuba for a family vacation. The great thing about Cuban-all-inclusive-resorts is the ability to exploit the free drinks…

Actions to take to become happier, more productive and kind. — How you train is how you perform. I love this quote. If you snooze your alarm every morning, you’re not going to become better at waking up without an alarm. If you’re unkind to the people around you, you won’t become kinder. If you’re always late to hand in assignments, you’re not going to become better at…

My friend and I tried walking really far to develop empathy for people who need to walk far distances for life necessities, healthcare or safety. — I’m working on emm.health, so the issue of maternal health care has been top-of-mind. The other day my friend and I wanted to walk really far. It was to try to develop empathy for women in rural Sub-Saharan Africa who walk hours roundtrip to receive care for their pregnancies. It…

A filtered list of my favourite moments/places/insights as a first-timer in Asia (📍Singapore) — Week 1! @koreanair impeccable experience for my first 12h flight! Details + simple luxuries that shaped my entryway into Asia (especially ultra-mini toothpaste, slippers, guava mousse and pineapple juice) After 35h of travelling, I got myself…

On building homes, internalizing the Fika spirit and finding myself through niches 🌳🔭 — tl’dr: three core themes (home, people and self) and the childhood dreams they reminded me to hold onto. 🚲 home: interior designer This year I got to know three places well: Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and my home province, Ontario. In Ontario, I helped my parents sell my childhood home in Toronto…

Reflections on hosting a philosophical tacos night: food-for-eat and food-for-thought — An Endless Sky Feeding people is my form of relaxation. Unfortunately, my Balkan roots make me a bit of a crazy woman when it comes to hosting. I try to do a bit of everything (think: 10 meal options, 6 drink varieties, 4 deserts, and so forth… for 5 people over). …

2 weeks before grade 11, I withdrew from high school. I had no plan, just a desire for a bolder education. To see and *actually* do things in the world. I was on a houseboat in Amsterdam, living and working with the daughter of the godfather of lab-grown meat. A…

A mental model to think about yourself, your strengths and how you want to impact the world. — I was listening to a stellar podcast and shared it with a friend. Typically I share podcasts and friends say: oh my gosh, it’s 2 hours long! To which I respond: it’s 1 hour on 2x speed. The day I discovered 2x speed, Sept 30th, 2018, was a day so…