So if the forehead wrinkles were a badge of honor for the wisdom, And the uneven smile is the badge of honor for being looked up to, And the crows eye is the badge of honor for living for myself.

I vividly remember being 4 or 5 years old and looking out of my bedroom window thinking "why me?" What that meant is a story for another time, but I always had a sense of the greater structures & spiritual meanings to this life.

So, here's to the year of allowing people to dislike me, allowing people to speak bad of me, because I am allowed to like me.

People ask me why I love Costa Rica so much, and for the first time, the answer is clear: my nervous system settles here. Life moves slower, people care for one another, and what actually matters rises to the surface. Costa Rica doesn’t ask you to rush — it invites you to breathe.