Aka, how to be a better writer (and human) — This article originally appeared at jonasressem.substack.com I’m done trying to get my articles read. I just want to write them, you know? I’ve been writing for four years now. Back when I started, I did it mostly for me. I had gone through a breakup, was engulfed in depression, and…

For you that’s screaming into the void. — You see something awesome, and on a whim you post something similar to social media — a silly tik tok, a vulnerable tweet, an inspirational story. It’s positively received and you get several likes and encouraging comments. The next time you’re posting, you choose to do something similar. …

It’s not given to you, nor decided upon. It’s developed through experimentation. — I had four pieces of paper crumbled in my hands. I shook them around and unfolded two of them: ‘DJ’ and ‘Poker Player.’ That was going to be my life from that point on. After high school, the established path was finished, and it was time to choose my own…

It’s all in your evaluations — “Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” — Albert Camus The world doesn’t care about anything, but you do. And that’s what makes life so meaningful or meaningless to live — depending, of course, on how you evaluate it. Every…

In failure, I learned what success is all about — The rent was due in a few days, so I checked my bank-account. A shiver ran down my spine as I realized I couldn’t pay it. I couldn’t afford to live in my apartment anymore. To understand how I got in this situation, we have to go back a decade. 2011: Avicii Inspired Me …

The antidote to chaos, uncertainty and confusion — In a psychological experiment, participants were introduced to some pictures of trees, four for each of the seasons. While the participants thought their job was to evaluate the contrast of the pictures, the real experiment was to see how the order of the pictures affected them. For half of the…

Do you risk postponing what you love? — In the fall of 2019, I tried to make it as a full-time writer. Half a year later, I was broke; self-employment ruined me. The money had burned faster than imagined, and I desperately needed a way to pay the bills. I didn’t want to give up too much of…

Leap of faith + love of fate — Many of our limitations are self-imposed: we lie to ourselves, neglect the whole picture, and get tripped up by giving in to social pressure. Because of this, we tend to make choices that leave us feeling stuck — stuck in a way of living that just doesn’t feel right: we…

Chaos, worthlessness, lost — Everyone wants to live a meaningful life, but not everyone realizes they’re already living it — at least to a certain degree. You see, it isn’t always obvious we have something when we’re in the middle of it. Sometimes, the only way to see things clearly is by having it…