essay about my life in 2022

The Eric Golban Blog

A Journey To Becoming The Best Version Of Yourself

22 Valuable Life Lessons For 2022

With 2021 coming to an end, many of us look ahead to 2022 with optimism. A start of a new year allows the chance for growth, change, improvements… the possibilities are limitless. Last year I wrote about 21 lessons for 2021 . This year, we’re ramping it up a notch with 22 lessons that you can bring into the new year with you for 2022:

1) Not everyone is meant to be in your life forever

The truth is some people are just temporary figures in your life. While this can sound bad at first, it’s not.

Sure, it can be sad to lose contact with somebody you were once close to. However, instead of dwelling on what isn’t there, be grateful for the time you were able to spend with them. Those interactions shaped you into the person you are today for better or for worse.

Maybe they taught you a valuable lesson or helped you get through a particularly difficult time in your life. They helped aid your own story and personal development, and sometimes…

Well, sometimes that is good enough.

“Some people are going to leave, but that’s not the end of your story. That’s the end of their part in your story.” -Faraaz Kazi

2) Everything in moderation, including moderation

When we hear the word addiction , it is usually related to drugs and alcohol. The truth of the matter is however you can be addicted to anything.

The obese man who is addicted to eating. The nervous girl that’s addicted to biting her fingernails. Porn, cleaning, working out, television … while some might be more harmful than others, addiction can hit from anywhere.

The best way to not be addicted is to avoid absolute obsession. That is why it is important to do everything in moderation. You don’t need to abstain completely, but you also shouldn’t overindulge. Even a healthy activity like exercise can become dangerous if done too often with too much intensity.

However, that is the beauty of this sentence. Everything in moderation, including moderation. There will be times when you will have to turn it up, use that fire burning inside of you, and go all out.

Just do it in moderation.

“Exactness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.” -Francois Fenelon

3) Take risks while you’re young

The cruel joke of life is that when we are young, we are dumb and inexperienced. Wisdom comes with age. Even being five years younger with the knowledge that you currently have can make all the difference.

The best way to gain this wisdom is through experiences. That is why it is important to take risks while you are young. Try new things. Do things that make you feel uncomfortable. Take chances.

If they do not work out, you still have time to bounce back! One of the main reasons I was not worried about moving across the country was that I knew if I didn’t like it, I always had the option to simply go back. Therefore, the risk wasn’t really a risk.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing so quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg

4) Life happens unexpectedly

You will find that perfect relationship when you aren’t even looking for one. You will find that dream job when you stop thinking about it. If you try to predict your life 6 months from now, you will most likely be very, very wrong.

And this is because…

5) Life doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need

In other words, everything happens for a reason. While you might have wanted that dream job, or to be in a relationship – that isn’t what you needed at that point in time.

Everything that has ever happened to you has worked out to get you to this point in your life. That’s because life has always given you what you needed when you needed it. Even if it didn’t feel like it at that time.

“Life doesn’t give you the people you want, it gives you the people you need. To love you, to hate you, to make you, to break you, and to make you the person you were meant to be.” -Walt Whitman

6) Happiness comes from helping others

Group of volunteers boxing supplies to help those in need.

Helping others is such a fulfilling and heartwarming experience, you can’t help but smile.

Volunteering, assisting your network, being there for a family member, cheering up a friend. Even small contributions that you don’t think much about can make a real impact on the lives of others.

And it will make an impact on your life.

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” -John Holmes

7) Know how to be independent

Learn how to cook for yourself, clean, small maintenance things around the house. You won’t always have someone to rely on at every moment in life. Knowing how to be independent and taking care of yourself is important for growth, and for survival.

“I was raised to be an independent woman, not the victim of anything.” -Kamala Harris

8) Family are the people who are there for you

You can have friends that are family and family that aren’t even friends. The people that are there for you when you really need it, both at your lowest points and at your highest, those are the people that really matter.

That is your real family.

“Family is not about blood. It’s about who is willing to hold your hand when you need it the most.” -Anonymous

9) It is OK to disconnect

Turn off your phone from time to time and just be alone with your thoughts. In the world of the internet and social media, it is so easy to always be on, constantly stimulated, and caught up in what other people are doing. We rarely ever take a moment to really be with our thoughts, even when alone.

Disconnecting gives perspective, clarity, and helps us recharge.

“We need time to defuse, to contemplate. When we sleep our brains relax and give us dreams, so at some time in the day we need to disconnect, reconnect, and look around us.” -Laurie Colwin

10) Take a break from self-development

This may sound crazy coming from a self-development blog, but it’s true!

Like I said before, everything in moderation. Becoming obsessed with self-development will lead to burnout, which is unhealthy and can be demoralizing.

Take time to listen to music instead of that self-help podcast. Watch sports, do mindless things from time to time.

Breaks are important to recharge us so that we can continue to operate at peak performance.

“Taking a break can lead to breakthroughs.” -Russell Eric Dobda

11) Don’t be afraid to say “I’m sorry”

The day I decided it is okay to say sorry was one of the best days of my life.

It truly felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. No longer did I think it was weak to apologize. If anything, being able to put your pride aside and admit when you are wrong is one of the strongest things any person can do.

Plus, saying sorry doesn’t always mean you were 100% wrong.

“Apologizing does not always mean you’re wrong and the other person is right. It just means you value your relationship more than your ego.” -Mark Matthews

12) Say “I love you” more

I <3 U written on sand with the tide coming in.

You never know when it might be your last chance!

“The regret of my life is that I have not said ‘I love you’ often enough.” -Yoko Uno

13) Life is too short to not do what you want

Not what your parents want for you. Not what you think will make you rich. Do what you want to do and what will make you feel fulfilled at the end of the day.

You don’t want to look back on your life 60 years from now and think “damn, I should have done that.”

This includes following your own career path, but it could also be asking out that girl you like!

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” -Steve Jobs

14) It’s okay to say “no”

In any scenario, “no” is an acceptable answer. In fact, the most successful people often say no. They say no to anything that does not align with their goals, enthuse them, or may go against their core values.

“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It’s very easy to say yes.” -Tony Blair

15) A great team makes all the difference

Working as part of a team that helps you out, uplifts you, and that you truly enjoy spending time with is extremely important. Nothing that makes a significant impact on the world can be done alone. That is why it is important to have amazing people by your side along the way.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” -Michael Jordan

16) Compromise is key

If you never compromise two unfortunate side effects will happen:

A) You close yourself off to new experiences B) You damage relationships

New experiences are part of growing and improving as a person. And relationships are fundamentally important for our sanity and happiness as people. Don’t let stubbornness affect your quality of life. Compromises don’t make you weak!

“Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break.” -Jane Wells

17) Nothing is more important than health

I used to believe money could buy anything, even health. My ignorance about Magic Johnson was just one reason why. COVID helped me realize that money, status, fame, etc. – all come secondary to being healthy.

“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.” -Thomas Carlyle

18) Everyone wants a friend

In the past two years with COVID, people have been lonelier than ever.

Even before, it was common to hear how difficult it was to make friends in today’s world.

The truth is, everybody wants a good friend. Somebody they can talk to, go out with, rely on, just have a fun time with.

Don’t be afraid to go up and talk to people. If you do, you might just form a new friendship. Even more so, you might be surprised by how receptive they are. Either way, you’ve got nothing to lose.

“A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.” -Maya Angelou

19) Be wary of gaslighters

Gaslighting is the act of somebody making you second guess yourself based on their words about a certain situation. This is often done in romantic relationships but can occur in any type of relationship including friends, family, and co-workers.

This is done to make you feel like you are in the wrong and the other person is right, making the situation your fault. When in reality, that is not the truth.

Be confident enough in yourself to not second guess yourself , hold your ground, and realize that you are right and the other person is gaslighting you.

“Gaslighting qualifies as a form of emotional abuse that involves denying a person’s experience and making statements, such as “that never happened,” “you’re too sensitive,” or “this isn’t that big a deal.” -Ramani Durvasula

20) Stop Complaining

This is a rule I’ve lived by for years, but every year I feel like it becomes even more relevant than the year before.

When you complain, you drain your own energy.

You drain the energy of those around you.

Nobody wins.

Instead of complaining about the situation, work on figuring out a solution!

“Complaining not only ruins everybody else’s day, it ruins the complainer’s day, too. The more we complain, the more unhappy we get.” -Dennis Prager

21) Small changes improve the world

You don’t need to be insanely rich and donate money to causes to be able to make an impact on the world.

Any small act of kindness that can put a smile on the other person’s face is a step in the right direction towards making the world a better place.

If we all did this, the world would change significantly and be filled with more positivity and love.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” -Aesop

22) Communicate

You will get into fights with the people you care most about in life from time to time. It’s only normal that when you spend that much time around someone, combined with being so deeply invested in what is best for them, a fight will occur on occasion.

The important thing is talking through the fight and being able to communicate. They say never go to bed mad. Adding to this, take time for yourself and for the other person to both calm down, then talk it out. Oftentimes, the fight happens not because either party had malicious intentions, but because there was a miscommunication.

“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” -Rollo May

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Best of 2022: Personal Essays

Does My Son Know You?

Jonathan Tjarks | The Ringer | March 3, 2022 | 2,738 words

Jonathan Tjarks was 33 years old when he learned he had cancer. Thirty-three. He had a wife and a baby son and a sportswriting career that was humming along, and then he had cancer. What he didn’t have was the willingness to go gently into that good night. So he wrote about his fear, and he wrote about his faith and his friendships; how difficult those things were, how important they were. He’d lost his own father when he was young, and he wanted more than anything for his son to avoid the slow erosion of community that he had known in the wake of his dad’s death. “I don’t want Jackson to have the same childhood that I did,” he wrote. “I want him to wonder why his dad’s friends always come over and shoot hoops with him. Why they always invite him to their houses. Why there are so many of them at his games. I hope that he gets sick of them.” Jonathan Tjarks was 34 years old when he died of cancer just a few short months after this essay was published. He’d done what he could to fight, and he’d done what he could to make sure that the friends he’d made would help his son navigate the world. To the rest of us, he left this spare, frank, moving essay. — Peter Rubin

On Metaphors and Snow Boots

Annie Sand | Guernica | May 23, 2022 | 2,821 words

“Only sometimes will the ice hold my weight,” writes Annie Sand in this powerful essay at Guernica , in which she considers the meteorological metaphors she uses to understand and cope with mental illness. “Metaphor rushes in to fill gaps, to make meaning, and to conceal,” she says, as she attempts to assess the cost of a bout of anxiety in “hours of writing lost, hours of grading lost, hours of exercise lost, hours of sleep lost, hours of joy lost.” While metaphor can be a convenient way for us to attempt to understand the pain of others, language in all its power often comes up short, diminishing the complexities of human perception and experience with inadequate comparisons. “When we use metaphor to conceal the unknowable, we make symbols out of human beings and allegory out of experience. We reduce our own pain to a precursor, a line item, a weather report,” she says. The key, Sand suggests, is to define pain and suffering for yourself: “I wonder instead if the answer is not to abstain from metaphor, but rather, each time society tries to wheat-paste an ill-fitting metaphor over our lives, to offer one of our own.” If you’ve ever tried to explain how you really feel — mentally or physically — to someone, you’ll appreciate Sand’s thinking. — Krista Stevens

Annie Sand on the most impactful longform story she read this year:

For me it has to be “ Final Girl, Terrible Place ” by Lesley Finn. She talks about the concept of the final girl in horror: the young woman who makes it to the end of the movie, but is nonetheless objectified within the story. Her body is put on the line so the male psyche can experience threat from a distance. Reading the essay, I felt a flash of desperate recognition I hadn’t experienced since Leslie Jamison’s “ Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain .” Finn captures so much of the uncertainty of being a teenage (and even preteen) girl: the way you feel the noose of culture and power closing in on you but have no name for it. Now in my early 30s, I’m helping to raise a teenage girl who is obsessed with horror, I suspect for similar reasons as Finn. I think she sees herself in the final girl. Maybe over Christmas break we’ll read it together.

20 Days in Mariupol

Mstyslav Chernov | Associated Press | March 21, 2022 | 2,400 words

We tend to think of personal essays as marathons rather than sprints, feats of the written word that require time, training, and endurance to complete. But sometimes a brilliant essay is a mad dash because it has to be. Case in point, this harrowing piece that begins, “The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in.” Video journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s account of witnessing and escaping the siege of Mariupol, Ukraine, is an essential first draft of history, penned in collaboration with Lori Hinnant, an AP colleague, and punctuated by photographer Evgeniy Maloletka’s chilling images. In spare, unflinching language, Chernov describes Russia’s campaign to suppress the truth about its brutal assault on civilians. What lingers most vividly in my memory, though, are the essay’s interior parts, where Chernov conveys a raw mix of shock, fear, anger, and guilt about what, as a journalist, he saw, did, and couldn’t do. These moments are what make such an otherwise immediate piece timeless: Chernov captures the essence of both conflict reporting and what it means to be the person doing it. — Seyward Darby

To Live in the Ending

Alyssa Harad | Kenyon Review | July 29, 2022 | 6,113 words

When it was time to select an essay for this category, I immediately knew the type of piece I wanted to highlight. Week after week, it’s so easy to get lost in #sadreads, especially about the state of the planet. I’ve found some comfort in writing about the Earth and the climate crisis that, while urgent and often dismal, ultimately challenges me to think in new ways — and which helps me see a path toward a better future. I count Alyssa Harad’s gorgeous braided essay about the end of the world and the language of the apocalypse as one of this kind of piece — I’ve kept thinking about it for months. Instead of relying on catastrophe narratives or thinking of the end as a singular event, Harad considers life as a series of “nested crises,” and explains that “worlds end all the time.” I love the way she artfully weaves her observations about the world with musings that trace her own thinking since she was a child, and reflects on how she’s come to make sense of the uncertain times in which we live. It’s an essay, but it’s also a journey, and it deeply inspired me, as both a writer and a human. — Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Alyssa Harad recommends a piece that made her smile this year:

“ Unconditional Death Is a Good Title ,” a selection in The Paris Review from the pandemic journal kept by the late-but-always-and-forever-great poet Bernadette Mayer, surges with the life and joy typical of Mayer’s work: “not growing old gracefully,” Mayer writes, “i’ve chosen to grow old awkwardly, like a teenager.”

14 Hours in the Queue to See Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin

Laurie Penny | British GQ | September 18, 2022 | 3,415 words

The Queue to see Queen Elizabeth’s coffin seems particularly bizarre now that the moment has passed. Looking back at it is akin to waking up after too many beers and analyzing the deep connection you thought you shared with the bartender. Laurie Penny found it awkward even at the emotional height of the time, and she approaches the Queue with a healthy amount of cynicism (and snacks). However, within the Queue, she finds incredible camaraderie and a shared sense of loss, not just for the Queen, for, as Penny states, “almost everyone I speak to turns out to have recently lost someone, or something important.” The loss from COVID-19 is also apparent as the Queue shuffles past the National COVID Memorial, naming the people who succumbed to the pandemic, and Penny realizes, “about as many people queued past that wall as there are names on it.” The passing of Elizabeth II created something that, for a brief moment, allowed people to come together and mourn and grieve in solidarity. Mourn and grieve for many things after some difficult years. With barriers down — for whatever reason — there can be tremendous release in shared emotion. This essay made me think about many things beyond the Queen: community, loss, and loneliness, to name a few. It also made me laugh, which is the splendid thing about Laurie Penny’s writing — she can make you ponder through a chuckle. — Carolyn Wells

You can also browse all of our year-end collections since 2011 in one place .

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My 2022 Annual Reflection: Practicing Resilience and Finding Joy

My annual reflection for 2022 and what I learned to take into 2023.

Happy new year, friends!

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions, but over the last few years, I’ve instead set themes . Themes, in contrast to goals, are something I keep in the back of my mind as I make decisions on how to manage the different elements of my life. They are more of a north star to follow than a specific end result.

When I finished my reflection last year, my 2022 theme was: “Keep it going, keep it steady.”

As I do every year I looked back through my calendar, journal, and daily reflections to read through all the highs and lows of the year.

You can read about the steps I went through for the annual reflection in How To Do an Annual Reflection to Get The Most Out Of The Year Ahead and more about how to set themes in Take Aim: How To Reflect, Set Direction, and Make Progress In The Year Ahead .

Looking back, I definitely kept it going, I kept some things steady… but not everything . After my reflection, I saw that in practice my annual theme wasn’t actually “keeping steady”.

It was: “Keep it going, even when things aren’t steady”

And I did that. It was a tough year in some respects but one that also had plenty of wins and joy.

Here is my annual reflection for 2022 and what I learned to take into 2023!

Looking back at 2022

1: resilience through the messy middle.

Early in the year as I struggled through our endless Albertan winter, I realized I was in the messy middle of this particular phase of my entrepreneurial journey. I rode the high motivation and energy of starting something new through a good chunk of 2021, but it was a different story in 2022!

Writing felt hard throughout the year. I battled low energy and motivation and grappled with self-doubt as I navigated through some of my more challenging times.

But I kept going:

I wrote nearly every day.
I published my articles on schedule (without fail!)
My newsletter subscriptions continued to grow. I have subscribers in 45 countries!
I kept up my fitness streak. 1830 days as of publishing.
I continued great work with my productivity consulting clients and added my first clients outside North America.

I kept going through the messy middle by leaning on my daily habits (writing, fitness, reflection ), as well as the community of people that support my work (including you!). On the harder days, I tried to practise my own advice by taking Minimum Viable Days . On the good days, I tried to celebrate my wins and take joy.

I’m still in the messy middle and I think I will be for a while, but that’s ok. All I have to do is keep going. How hard could it be? 😉

2: Hard goodbyes and joyful hellos

Grief and joy were interwoven throughout 2022.

Both our senior cats died, Toby just before last Christmas , and Penny in May . As anyone with pets knows, our furry family members become integral parts of our daily lives. Over 15 and 13 years respectively, they were with me through many of the most significant happenings in my adult life as well as a large part of my daily rhythms.

While I knew we wouldn’t have them forever, it didn’t make it any easier to lose them. Penny’s sudden death was (and still is) particularly hard for me. She was my little shadow, a constant purring companion.

But we got to enjoy Penny in a new way as she adjusted to being a solo kitty for a while after Toby passed. And then, a few months after Penny, we welcomed our new kitties.

Winston and Stella have been a wonderful, energy-filled, addition. Life with two kittens after many years with senior cats has been no joke 😅. They keep us on our toes and it has been fun to learn their personalities and settle into new rhythms with them (except the one where they wake us up at 6:30 am every morning, I could do without that one 😴).

This year has been a reminder that grief and joy come hand in hand. We had many years of joy with Toby and Penny and, while I still grieve them both, we now have Winston and Stella bringing new joy each day.

3. The silver lining of missing something is the immense joy when you get it back

During the pandemic (I can't believe I can say those words 😩), we all experienced the seemingly endless stretch of the stops and starts of what you could/should and couldn't/shouldn’t do.

While Covid is here to stay, getting vaccinated and being able to go out and do things again in 2022 was wonderful.

I went on my first post-covid trip outside of Canada to enjoy our annual NBA Summer League trip to Las Vegas with my brother and sister-in-law.
I got to go to Vancouver on one of my writing retreats and, for the first time, met an online friend I made over Covid in person.
I went with my niece and nephew to their first concert (Imagine Dragons) and got to experience their joy and excitement as they heard some of their favourite songs live for the first time.
I got to celebrate with friends for 3 weddings, one of which I got to be a groomsperson for the first time and went to my first bachelor party!
I was able to restart many of the traditions with our families that we had missed over Covid like pumpkin carving and gingerbread house construction.
My husband and I celebrated 20 years since our first date with dinner at a favourite restaurant.

I also continued to do all the things that normally bring me joy: I played video games, ate a lot of pancakes (my favourite food!), enjoyed our garden, went for walks, watched basketball, and went for runs in the sunshine.

Regaining all of these opportunities and connections made them all sweeter.

4. Practicing what I preach

Starting in mid-October, I experienced my first MS relapse in the 5 years since my initial diagnosis. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but it still rocked me. All of the fears and grief I had when I was first diagnosed, which I had neatly tucked away, came roaring back.

As I write this I am still “in it”, experiencing symptoms. It’s scary, uncomfortable, and frustrating. It’s hard not to get tied up in knots about all the what-ifs and why is this happening to me.

But I am working hard to practise what I preach. l have been and will continue to keep going back to daily habits, rituals, self-kindness, and the things I listed above that bring me joy. They are the foundation of resilience.

All I can do is my best every day, knowing that sometimes “best” is 100% and sometimes it’s 20%.

What I learned in 2022 for 2023

These are the things I want to take with me into next year:

1. Life is not linear

Each time I do these annual reflections I am reminded that life is never a straight line from one thing to the next but a series of twists and turns. It’s like real-life Snakes and Ladders, with some lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) occasionally thrown in.

Sometimes we arrive where we thought we would, but often we end up somewhere entirely different.

In many respects, where I am today is not dramatically different than where I thought I would be. I took the initial turn to start this career path and from the outside, it looks as expected. I am growing my consulting practice , writing my newsletter, and s peaking at events .

But it’s significantly different in that I am beginning to (or at least trying to) accept where my health fits into building and growing this business.

As I have written about before, there are things that matter and things that don’t , and I know that my health has to be at the top of my list of what matters. The challenge will be to have the courage, heart, and brain to listen to my body and accept that sometimes I have to avoid a snake and take a ladder elsewhere.

I may not end up where I thought, but I have no doubt it will still be pretty great.

2. I can always begin again

The practising part of practising resilience and practising what I preach meant I sometimes wasn’t very good at it. I didn’t always listen to my body as well as I should have. I have sometimes squandered opportunities for rest and recharge with half work and guilt. I let my boundaries and habits slip. But each time I realized what I was doing, I began again.

That’s all I can do really. Notice, begin again, and keep practising all the good things I know help me.

3. Now is not forever

In the worst moments of my MS relapse, I felt hopeless, afraid, angry and sorry for myself. I felt lost and like all the things I had imagined for myself had gone up in smoke. But they were moments . Fleeting and not a representation of my life now, and certainly not my life forever. I have and will feel all those things again, but they will pass again.

Part of still being “in it” is that it is harder to see the light. One of my friends, who is experiencing a similar health challenge, described it as waiting for the clouds to part.

There have been peaks of sunlight and I know it can’t stay cloudy forever. Eventually, the sun will shine through.

My theme for 2023: Space and grace

My theme for 2022 was: Keep it going, keep it steady.

In practice, it was: Keep it going, even when things aren’t steady.

As I look to 2023, I want to still keep it going, but the theme that I am starting the new year with is:

Space and grace.

I can keep it going. I know that. I kept going this past year despite the hard parts! But the going will be easier if I give myself the space to do things in my own time, in my own way, when my body feels up to it. I have to give myself the grace to rest when I can’t push any further.

Allowing myself space and grace means I will still push myself, keep building my business, and continue to grow, but do it gently .

“Space and grace” in action mean:

I will do what I can each day, and that will be enough.
I will plan for the best and be flexible when things need to change.

These are easier said than done, but I have them written on a note on my desk to remind me since I am sure I will need them!

What will your theme for 2023 be?

As always, my annual reflection provides me with so much valuable perspective. It has been especially helpful as I navigate my health situation. I can’t know what 2023 will bring but each year brings with it new trials and adventures and I am always excited to find out.

There will be ups, there will be downs, and I will do my best to live my theme and find all the joy I can. I hope you do too. What will your theme for 2023 be?

Going through your annual reflection and setting your theme for 2023 can feel overwhelming. If you could use some help to work through these processes, get in touch for a free consultation and we can talk about how I can help you.

Ashley Janssen

Productivity consultant, writer, speaker, serial entrepreneur, chaos calmer, introvert, cat-lady. Lover of books, fitness, old fashioned’s, basketball, and video games.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Hire me for 1 on 1 productivity consulting or speaking .

Taking space, giving grace, and resisting less, a look back on some old favourites, 40 days to 40.

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Where Do I See Myself in 10 Years: Envisioning a Decade Ahead

Table of contents, where i see myself in 10 years: a profound exploration, 10 years from now: nurturing personal and professional growth, how do i see myself 10 years from now: a commitment to values, embracing the journey of the next decade, turning dreams into reality: the road to my future, navigating the career landscape: a fulfilling professional journey, fostering personal growth: a holistic approach to well-being, a global citizen: making a positive impact on society, conclusion: a journey of transformation and purpose.

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Guest Essay

My Abortion at 11 Wasn’t a Choice. It Was My Life.

By Nicole Walker

Ms. Walker is a writer and editor who teaches creative writing at Northern Arizona University.

I predict that my 17-year-old daughter will become a doctor. When my husband told her about a neuroscientist and nutritionist he met while producing a documentary, she said, “That sounds like the job for me.” She knows everything about the gut microbiome, dopamine and herniated discs. She does not look away at times when others might — like when my mother unexpectedly texted me pictures of a cyst she had removed from the back of her head, sitting in a bloody specimen cup. “That’s exactly what I would do,” my daughter said. “You have to show people.”

I don’t mind looking at such things, though I would like a little warning. But here I offer no warning, except to say that in an alternative world — one without abortion access — that conversation with my daughter would not have happened. In fact, my family and I would not have our lives together at all. The loss of Roe v. Wade is collective, but this story is mine. I ask you not to look away.

In 1982, when I was 10 years old, a 14-year-old boy molested me. He was supposed to be babysitting me and my younger sisters. After my sisters went to sleep, the babysitter and I sat on the couch, watching “M*A*S*H,” which came on after the news. He started caressing my arm. Then my neck. Then he took off my shirt and my pants. Then his clothes. He lay on top of me and had intercourse with me. I had a vague idea of what was happening. My parents had been forthcoming about how babies were made, and during long and lazy summers in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, I watched plenty of instructive soap operas.

I didn’t really know how wrong the babysitter situation was. I was flattered by the attention, but also confused. Why me? What does this mean? Was he my boyfriend? Why did we have to keep it a secret?

He continued to molest me for more than a year. I haven’t always used the word “molest” — I felt too much guilt and complicity. I am still prone to feeling both. I’m not sure if that’s a product of the molestation or if that is my personality, or if the two can even be disentangled.

When I was 11, he impregnated me. I use this active verb, with me as direct object, intentionally. To “get pregnant” suggests he threw the baseball and I, knowing it was coming, caught it. I did not mean to catch anything, nor did I know how to avoid doing so. My mom, who was already worried that something seemed wrong, figured it out. “Are you pregnant?” she asked me. I nodded yes. How did she know? I barely knew. Maybe it was pure motherly intuition.

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15 Essays To Read Again in 2022

A list of our staff’s favorite essays from the past year that they did not commission themselves, or that they think cover a topic that deserves a second look.

As we prepare for 2022, we wanted to share with you a list of our staff’s favorite essays from the past year that they did NOT commission themselves or that they think cover a topic that deserves a second look.

Why I Stopped Writing About Syria, by Asser Khattab

Riada Asimovic Akyol, Contributing Editor

Among so many informative, eloquent pieces published in New Lines this year, this one I think I will actually never forget. It hit so many buttons and allowed so many people to be seen like never before. I caught myself nodding so many times while reading it, and I know a lot of people from the Balkans could understand what Asser was sharing. Others could learn with humility. The way he wrote about growing up “surrounded by people who have never experienced the joy of peaceful tranquility,” thinking that was the normal , and both the vulnerability and confidence with which he wrote about different challenges, as well as his human and professional yearnings and aspirations, were powerful and inspiring. Many conversations in open, and behind closed doors, will from now on be held, with employers, between employees, among friends, across the borders thanks to Asser’s piece. I am thankful for New Lines for publishing it.

How Arabs Have Failed Their Language, by Hossam Abouzahr

Kevin Blankinship, Contributing Editor

After the requisite boilerplate about how hard it is to choose favorites, about how every essay adds something to knowledge, etc., let me say that his is the piece I liked most from 2021. The reason is that it surprised me. It surprised me not because it was new to me: As an Arabic professor, I’ve heard who knows how many catfights about “diglossia,” namely high versus low (colloquial) varieties of Greek, Chinese, Serbian and other languages. What surprised me was how fresh the wounds are. For a quarrel looping back a thousand years, when Arab linguists tried to check “pollution” from non-native speakers, especially Persians, by setting up rules of grammar, I was stunned to see how much it agitates today. Abouzahr’s essay came out and so did the partisans. Formal Arabic is the Arabic of Islam, some said: the Arabic of the Qur’an, of classical poetry. But, said others, colloquial Arabic is the Arabic of hearth and home, of jokes and secrets, of friendship. Could it not, I thought as I watched the skirmish, be both? In the spirit of Christmas, isn’t there room for all the Arabics at the inn? A naïve thought that softens the majesty, the Whitman-like container of multitudes and, what’s more, one that misses how real language is used by real people and how it can’t be everything to everyone. Oh, well, let the fight go on, then.

The ISIS War Crime Iraqi Turkmen Won’t Talk About, by Hollie McKay

Courtney Dobson, Senior Editor

In this essay, Hollie McKay reports on women in Iraq who have been “disappeared” by the Islamic State group, the group’s use of rape as a weapon of war and how minority communities struggle to heal and come to terms with the stigma associated with sexual violence. It is a haunting piece, but McKay masterfully conveys the anguish and pain that comes with sexual violence, not just for the victim, but also for their loved ones trying to help. “Through the gap in the door flap,” McKay writes, “I noticed that scores of men and boys had lined up outside, maintaining a respectful distance from the distraught women but with curiosity etched into their sun-kissed faces. They wanted to be involved somehow, to be part of the healing process, to remind us that men were not the enemy — twisted men were the enemy. These were the fathers and brothers and sons, the nephews and neighbors.” McKay’s essay resonates for communicating the universal need for support, connection and justice, while also laying bare why these don’t come easily. Published a few months after New Lines launched, this essay left a deep impression on me.

How I Escaped China’s War on Uyghurs, by Tahir Hamut Izgil

Rasha Elass, Editorial Director

When we launched New Lines we wanted to cover themes and stories from beyond the geographic Middle East. The oppression of the Uyghurs in China struck me as an underreported story in mainstream media because it hardly featured first-person voices from the Uyghur community. So I got to work and found Tahir Hamut Izgil, a Uyghur poet who tells a story with moving prose and nuance. His essay about the chilling effect of a document that the Chinese authorities require members of the Uyghur community to fill out is both simple and profound, capturing a Kafkaesque reality that is often lost in the daily coverage of foreign affairs. Months after we translated and published Izgil’s essay, other media outlets followed suit. To us this is a triumph, evidence that we are already creating new lines in international reporting.

F ull essay

A Castle in the Air: Trekking the Secret Mountain Paths of Yemen, by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Anthony Elghossain, Contributing Editor

Mountain men tell their stories. In Yemen, some folks speak of “an ancient city” atop a mountain. “What,” asks Tim Mackintosh-Smith after hearing them, “is really at the top of Jabal Balq?” To answer this question, he quests through myth, memory and the mind for a “castle in the air.” Is it a place? Maybe. Is it a journey? Yes. Having always gotten along with and been fascinated by folks in the mountains and hills, I was interested in reading this piece as soon as it was in our pipeline. And I loved how our writer came back for some “unfinished business.” Writing is about the quest. So, too, is life. Our writer captured those truths in this piece.

After America: Inside the Taliban’s New Emirate, by Fazelminallah Qazizai

Hassan Hassan, Editor in Chief

My choice of a favorite essay is to illustrate part of why we established New Lines in the first place. It was a dispatch by Fazelminallah Qazizai from a Taliban-held area, published four months before the Taliban would take over the country as fast as their trucks could drive through towns and provinces. If you read that story, nothing about what happened in the summer would come as a shock to you. After the Taliban’s takeover, it was easy for journalists to go through their old notes and write compelling stories about what they had witnessed in the months and years before, to make sense of what unfolded. It is harder to do that before the event, and Qazazai did just that. He also did it really well. The piece should be a template in how dispatches should be done. Qazazai was not parachuted into the country to come back with a piece from there. He is an Afghan journalist who actually knows the terrain, the society and history, and who goes to a Taliban area and eloquently captures and reconstructs the situation there.

The Key to Understanding Iran Is Poetry, by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi

Tam Hussein, Contributing Editor

Muhammad Ali Mojaradi in his essay is right: The key to understanding Iran is poetry. In Shiraz and Isfahan you see beggars recite Hafez and children hawking for money with birds picking couplets from small envelopes trying to tell your fortune. Perhaps it’s just Frank Miller’s “300” or the politics of the region that makes its peoples appear to have a culture built on hate and cruelty. But that is far from the truth. It has ambiguity built in, abundant variations on love, mysticism and much, much more. It just gave me an appreciation as to how all-encompassing Persianate culture is, including Iran, central Asia, Afghanistan and the subcontinent.

The Wandering Alawite, by Adnan Younes

Faysal Itani, Associate Editor

This was, as far as I’m aware, the best if not the only piece by a constituent of Syria’s mass murderer about his and his coreligionists’ implication in Bashar al-Assad’s crimes. I think it took tremendous intellectual courage to reflect on what drew Syria’s Alawites to support this regime, but it also posed an uncomfortable challenge to readers who understandably deplore any and all support for the war criminal Assad. It was difficult to write and difficult to read, because of its ability to humanize and contextualize horrible choices by Assad’s supporters and detractors alike. It was a tragic story in the most literal and compelling way.

A Multigenerational American Story of Immigration and Return, by Rasha Elass

Ola Salem, Managing Editor

A topic we often visit at New Lines is identity. Over the past year, we’ve run a number of first-person pieces looking at how environment and ancestry have shaped writers’ identity and how the answer is usually far more complex than a quick answer to the question, “Where are you from?” One story I found to be particularly fascinating was Rasha Elass’s piece in which she wrote about her Syrian great-grandfather who moved to America, carved a life for himself and later created a family of his own, only later to uproot his children and move back to Syria and face an attack from the French.

Gone to Waste: the ‘CVE’ Industry After 9/11, by Lydia Wilson

Chris Sands, South Asia Editor

The legacy of 9/11 has dominated my life and career. As a journalist for local newspapers in the U.K. in the weeks and months after the attacks, I saw and heard the racist backlash against British Muslims. Later, as a young reporter in the Middle East, I witnessed the daily indignities Palestinians suffer under Israeli occupation. But it was while living in Afghanistan for almost a decade that I came to understand the true folly of the countering violent extremism industry — a money-making enterprise perpetuated by governments, international NGOs and private companies in the guise of curbing Islamic militancy. Lydia Wilson’s article brilliantly details how this house of cards was built to ignore the social ills and legitimate political grievances that lie at the root of what was once called the “war on terror.”

The Bandit Warlords of Nigeria, by James Barnett

Kareem Shaheen, Middle East and Newsletters Editor

One of the things I was looking forward to the most when we started New Lines was giving the space to writers to explore stories that haven’t been told in the mainstream media. Too often, the rich tapestry of our lives and societies are obscured rather than illuminated. This piece is a fascinating investigation into an untold story that has long been neglected in favor of the “sexier” stories of Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria. It is about the farmer-herder conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives, has been exacerbated by climate change and is destabilizing important parts of Africa’s most populous country. The color and fascinating exchanges in the piece, chronicled through Barnett’s exclusive access to the bandit warlords, make this unique investigation shine.

Where the Russian Gulag Once Thrived, Life Remains Isolated, by Owen Matthews

Michael Weiss, News Director

Believe it or not, one of our best essays this year grew out of the field research journal for a forthcoming spy novel. Owen Mathews spent 10 days touring the remains of the Gulag Archipelago — the slave-labor camps Stalin built to punish to send his enemies (and quite a lot of his friends) in the Russian Arctic. Whole communities and cities sprung up around these grim “colonies” of the 20th century, which helped industrialize the Soviet Union at the price of around 6 million souls. As one might expect, this architecture of atrocity has been left to rot or freeze or be swallowed up by the taiga. Matthews, an accomplished historian and biographer, travels to parts unknown and unremembered with an eye for detail and — no small trick given the circumstances — a sense of humor.

How an Email Sting Operation Unearthed a Pro-Assad Conspiracy—and Russia’s Role in It, by Michael Weiss and Jett Goldsmith

Brian Whitaker, Contributing Editor

A moment of light relief in the weird world of conspiracy theorists. Paul McKeigue is a university professor who denies the Assad regime’s chemical attacks in Syria and claims that those who died in them were executed by rebel fighters in a gas chamber. He got the gas chamber idea from an American who had a dream about it after eating anchovy pizza shortly before going to bed. McKeigue considers himself a smart guy, so when a mysterious emailer contacted him using the name “Ivan,” he assumed “Ivan” was working for Russian intelligence and began passing him information – mainly about people who disagreed with his conspiracy theories. But “Ivan” was neither Russian nor an intelligence agent – the professor had been caught in a sting.

An Elegy for Afghanistan, by Habib Zahori

Lydia Wilson, Contributing Editor

The piece is everything I want an essay to be: personal, informative and visceral, communicating a raw experience while simultaneously expressing far bigger themes about humanity and war. We published it at a time when all eyes were on Afghanistan, after the Taliban took control once coalition forces had withdrawn. For me it’s pieces like this that really cut through the immense amount that was being published at that time on this subject; it was so well written and based on so much personal and intimate knowledge. And his love for Afghanistan – and the heartbreak of that love — came through powerfully.

In Search of African Arabic, by Vaughn Rasberry

Faisal Al Yafai, Executive Editor

It was always going to be difficult to choose one essay over the others, and many of the choices of the team could easily have been my first picks. But Vaughn Rasberry’s essay on the influence of the Arabic language in Africa stands out for me because it explores such a rarely considered subject.

Rasberry believes, as I do, that African histories cannot be told without understanding the role of Arabic in shaping the political, social and literary environments of many of the countries and civilisations of the continent. The flip side is also true: that the Arab world cannot understand itself without reference to the African continent.

As Rasberry points out, there is a vast corpus of literature in African countries written in Arabic, much of it under-explored – some, no doubt, still undiscovered. Hidden histories of the African continent and the Arab world are in those texts, waiting to be sought out. Without it, both regions will only know half of their own stories.

Getting To Know Cairo’s Four-Pawed Inhabitants

A film about a goatherding indian migrant sparks a gulf controversy, what a beauty pageant reveals about identity in postapartheid south africa, preserving iraqi memories through immersive virtual reality, edward said’s cultural universalism and love of opera, ‘a round of applause’ finds the funny side of despondency, sign up to our newsletter.

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1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology

Philosophy, One Thousand Words at a Time

Meaning in Life: What Makes Our Lives Meaningful?

Author: Matthew Pianalto Category: Ethics , Phenomenology and Existentialism , Philosophy of Religion Word Count: 997

Editors’ note: this essay and its companion essay, The Meaning of Life: What’s the Point? both explore the concept of meaning in relation to human life. This essay focuses on meaning in individual human lives, whereas the other addresses the meaning of life as a whole.

Imagine becoming so fed up with your job and home life that you decide to give it all up. Now you spend your days lounging on a beach.

One day, your friend Alex finds you on the beach and questions your new lifestyle: “You’re wasting your life!” says Alex. You tell Alex that you were unhappy and explain that you are much happier now.

However, Alex responds: “There’s more to life than happiness. You aren’t doing anything meaningful with your life!” [1]

But what is a meaningful life?

Here we will review some influential answers to this question.

A group of people doing yoga on a beach, at sunset.

1. Cosmic Pessimism vs. Everyday Meaning

Pessimists might say that life has no ultimate or cosmic meaning and thus that a beach bum’s life is no more or less meaningful—in the grand scheme of things—than the lives of Beethoven, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Marie Curie. [2]

However, many philosophers argue that even if there is no ultimate meaning of life, there can be meaning in life. Our lives can be meaningful in ordinary ways, ways that don’t require that we play a special role in some kind of grand cosmic narrative. Call this everyday meaning . [3] What might give our lives this kind of meaning?

2. Subjectivism

Subjectivists say that someone’s life is meaningful if it is deeply fulfilling, engaging, or satisfying. [4] And different people find different things meaningful; a challenging career might be engaging and fulfilling for others, but boring and unsatisfying to you: you may find life on a beach much more fulfilling.

Some subjectivists distinguish between the judgment that one is fulfilled and actually being fulfilled. Fulfillment feels good, but it seems possible to be mistaken about whether we are fulfilled. Perhaps, as you lounge on the beach, you confuse being merely content with fulfillment. [5] If you tried other things like writing poetry, volunteering, or starting a business, they might end up being more fulfilling, and hence more meaningful for you. [6]

Subjectivism, however, has counterintuitive implications. Suppose someone found it fulfilling to spend all their time gazing at the sand. This may seem too bizarre, aimless, or trivial to credit as meaningful. And what if someone found meaning in ethically monstrous activities, like torturing babies or puppies? Vicious projects like these don’t seem to add positive meaning to someone’s life. [7]

Someone would have to be a rather atypical sort of human being to be truly fulfilled by sand-gazing or puppy-torturing. Could such strange lives count as meaningful? Subjectivists may say yes, but many would reject that answer and conclude that subjectivism is false.

3. Objective Meaning

Objective accounts hold that meaningful lives involve projects of positive value, such as improving our character, exercising our creativity, and making the world a better place by pursuing and promoting truth, justice, and beauty. [8]

Being a beach bum doesn’t really make the world worse , but it doesn’t make much of a positive contribution either. Your friend Alex is concerned that you are squandering your potential and thereby failing to make something meaningful of your life.

However, your decision to become a beach bum could be a way of rebelling against the “rat race” of a workaholic and overly competitive society. Perhaps you are choosing to cultivate a life of mindfulness and aesthetic contemplation of natural beauty, in protest against superficial or soul-crushing social norms. Framed that way, your life seems to align with important, enduring, objective values.

Objective accounts of meaning, however, must explain why some activities are objectively more meaningful than others.

The difficulty is that what seems frivolous or pointless from one point of view may seem valuable and worthwhile from another. For some, climbing Mount Everest might count as an admirable exercise of physical and mental endurance, an inspiring achievement. Others may think it is stupid to climb big rocks, risking death and wasting resources that could be directed toward other more valuable causes.

But perhaps such people are just being narrow-minded. The meaningfulness of being a beach bum, a mountain-climber, or anything else might depend on our motives or options and not just on what the activity involves. [9]

4. Hybrid Theory

The hybrid theory of meaning in life combines insights from subjectivism and objective accounts: a meaningful life provides fulfillment and does so through devotion to objectively valuable projects. [10]

Hybrid theory differs from objective accounts because it insists that a meaningful life must also be fulfilling for the person living it. There are many such projects available to us, since there are many fulfilling ways, given our distinctive personalities and abilities, that we can engage with values like truth, justice, and beauty.

However, just as a subjectively fulfilling life might seem trivial or despicable, perhaps a meaningful life doesn’t always feel fulfilling. [11]

Consider George Bailey in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life . [12] George thinks his life has been wasted and wishes that he’d never been born. Luckily, his guardian angel Clarence rescues George from a suicide attempt and helps George understand how meaningful his life choices have been. Hybrid theory implies that George’s life now becomes meaningful because he is finally fulfilled by all his good works, but objective accounts suggest that George’s life was meaningful all along even though he didn’t realize it! [13]

Recall the opening scenario: did you ditch a meaningful (but sometimes frustrating) life for the beach?

5. Conclusion

The psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl held that the search for meaning is the fundamental human drive. [14] He claimed that a sense of meaning in life gives people the strength to persevere and even thrive despite the adversity and injustice we must sometimes confront. [15]

Questions about meaning in life often arise when we suspect that something is missing from our lives. Despite their differences, the theories surveyed above seem to agree that there are many things we might do—or try—that would be meaningful. Talking about it with your friend Alex may be a good place to start. [16] Why? Because good relationships frequently rank as important sources of meaning: perhaps meaning is often made—or discovered—together.

[1] Emily Esfahani Smith (2017) uses this distinction between happiness and meaning in life in her survey of psychological research on meaning in life. See also her TED Talk, “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy.”

[2] See, e.g., Benatar (2017) and Weinberg (2021) for defenses of the pessimistic outlook. At least one theist agrees with the pessimists that if life has no divine meaning or purpose, then nothing we do or become has any lasting significance and that our lives are all equally absurd: see Craig (2013).

[3] Many philosophers who propose theories of meaning in life are either agnostic or skeptical of the idea that life as a whole has any divine meaning or purpose. See, e.g., Wolf (2010). Of course, if one does think life as a whole has divine meaning or purpose, then having meaning in one’s life might well involve living in accord with the supernatural point of existence. Some of the accounts of meaning in life are consistent with religious ideas about the meaning of life; I leave it as an exercise to the reader to work out which views will or will not cohere with their own religious convictions.

[4] This idea is developed in the final chapter of Taylor (2000).

[5] John Stuart Mill issues a similar warning against conflating happiness and contentment in Utilitarianism , Chapter 2.

[6] This point is developed in more sophisticated subjectivist accounts of meaning in life. See, e.g. Calhoun (2015) and Parmer (2021).

[7] See Campbell and Nyholm (2015) or their contribution in Landau (2022) for discussion of “anti-meaning”: activities, projects, and lives that have negative and destructive significance.

[8] See Metz (2013) for discussion of several different accounts of this sort; Metz defends his own version in the final chapter. On creativity, see Taylor (1987) and Matheson (2018).

[9] Examples like the beach bum are often under-described–including in this essay! It is worth taking such examples and considering variations of intentions, motives, circumstances, and so forth in order to consider how changes in these various elements may alter our assessment of the meaningfulness of the life or activity. Whole lives are usually, if not always, more complex than these brief examples. Philosophers who endorse narrative theories of meaning in life would suggest that the focus on particular activities and roles fails to consider that a meaningful life might also need to make holistic sense as a meaningful story. See Kauppinen (2012).

[10] The term “project” here includes not just completable activities like painting a picture but also open-ended activities such as maintaining strong relationships with friends and family. This approach is developed by Susan Wolf in Meaning in Life and Why It Matters , and in three essays collected in Wolf (2014): see the essays in Part II: “The Meanings of Lives,” “Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life,” and “Happiness and Morality.” The text of Meaning in Life and Why It Matters is available at the Tanner Lectures website. See the print edition for excellent commentaries on Wolf’s position and a response by Wolf. A similar view is developed by Peter Singer in How Are We to Live? (1993), Chapter 10.

[11] Another potential problem is that while hybrid theory aims to take the attractive features of subjective fulfillment and objective accounts of meaning in life, it inherits the possible problems with both views, too. Furthermore, if subjective and objective accounts contradict each other, hybrid theory might be inconsistent.

[12] This point is developed, using the example of George Bailey, in Smuts (2013).

[13] For a similar study in a life that seems very meaningful from the outside (a successful career, prosperity, and a happy family), but is wracked by unhappiness, existential dread, and moral guilt within, see Leo Tolstoy’s My Confession (2005). Tolstoy’s crisis of meaning is often discussed in the literature on meaning in life, both for the gripping way in which he describes his fear of death and his feeling that life is meaningless, and for his discussion of the solution to the problem to be found in religious faith.

[14] Frankl (2006).

[15] Of course, this does not justify the actions of those who have put others in despicable situations. For Frankl, the point is about motivation rather than justification. Revolting against oppressors, for example, may be a highly meaningful project for those who are oppressed. See also Camus (2018).

[16] On relationships and other sources of meaning in life, see Smith (2017). Further recommended reading: Landau (2017), Landau (2022), and Singer (2009). For discussion of how ordinary “folk” intuitions about meaning relate to various philosophical theories of meaning in life, see Fuhrer and Cova (2022).

Benatar, David (2017). The Human Predicament . Oxford University Press.

Calhoun, Cheshire (2015). “Geographies of Meaningful Living,” Journal of Applied Philosophy 32(1): 15-34.

Campbell, Stephen M. and Sven Nyholm (2015). “Anti-Meaning and Why It Matters,” Journal of the American Philosophical Association 1(4): 694-711.

Camus, Albert (2018). The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays . Trans. Justin O’Brien. Vintage.

Craig, William Lane (2013). “The Absurdity of Life Without God.” In: Jason Seachris, ed. Exploring the Meaning of Life . Wiley-Blackwell: 153-172.

Frankl, Viktor E. (2006). Man’s Search for Meaning . Beacon Press. Originally published in 1946.

Fuhrer, Joffrey and Florian Cova (2022). “What makes a life meaningful? Folk intuitions about the content and shape of meaningful lives,” Philosophical Psychology.

Kauppinen, Antti (2012). “Meaningfulness and Time,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 84(2): 345-377.

Landau, Iddo (2017). Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World . Oxford University Press.

Landau, Iddo (2022). The Oxford Handbook of Meaning in Life . Oxford University Press.

Metz, Thaddeus (2013). Meaning in Life . Oxford University Press

Mill, John Stuart (1863). Utilitarianism .

Parmer, W. Jared (2021). “Meaning in Life and Becoming More Fulfilled,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 20(1): 1-29.

Singer, Irving (2009). Meaning in Life, Vol. 1: The Creation of Value . MIT Press.

Singer, Peter (1993). How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest . Prometheus.

Smith, Emily E. (2017). The Power of Meaning . Crown.

Smith, Emily E. (2017). “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy.” TED.com.

Smuts, Aaron (2013). “The Good Cause Account of the Meaning of Life,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy 41(4): 536-562.

Taylor, Richard (2000). Good and Evil . Prometheus. Originally published in 1970.

Taylor, Richard (1987). “Time and Life’s Meaning,” The Review of Metaphysics 40(4): 675-686.

Tolstoy, Leo (2005). My Confession . Translated by Aylmer Maude. Originally published in Russian in 1882.

Weinberg, Rivka (2021). “Ultimate Meaning: We Don’t Have It, We Can’t Get It, and We Should Be Very, Very Sad,” Journal of Controversial Ideas 1(1), 4.

Wolf, Susan (2010). Meaning in Life and Why It Matters . Princeton University Press. ( Wolf’s lecture is also available at the Tanner Lecture Series website ).

— (2014). The Variety of Values . Oxford University Press.

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Matthew Pianalto is a Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University. He is the author of On Patience (2016) and numerous articles and book chapters on ethics. philosophy.eku.edu/pianalto

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My 2022 Essay Primer to Get You Started

by j9robinson | Jul 28, 2022

Are you stuck in Essay Hell yet?

The season is upon us. Woot woot!

Finding a great topic can be challenging.

And then turning that into a written piece that sets you apart from other college applicants, and reveals your unique personality and character, even harder.

But let me show you a way to make the process simple, and effective.

Start here: Think of a time you faced some type of problem.

Don’t over think it.

Avoid trying to brainstorm one that was impressive.

Stick to something simple.

It could be as basic as…

The time you had an argument with your mom.

Or the time you borrowed your brother’s electric bike and crashed it.

Or the time you got obsessed with a board game.

Or the time you got a brush stuck in your crazy curly hair.

Or the time you forgot a huge order while working at a restaurant.

Or the time you lost a dog while pet sitting.

Or the time you got lost riding the public bus.

Or the time you sang in public for the first time and everyone laughed.

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ESSAY: My Life in Nine Songs

by Jeff Maisey | Jan 19, 2022 | News , News & Views , Robotham

By Tom Robotham

Music…is not simply a distraction or a pastime, but a core element of our identity . – Daniel Levitin, The World in Six Songs

The other day, I pulled from one of my bookshelves a volume that I’ve revisited often over the last few years: Daniel Levitin’s The World in Six Songs , a marvelous study of the ways in which early music shaped human nature and facilitated the social bonding that was necessary for the development of civilization.

The book is also a meditation on the enormously important role that music plays in our own lives—which got me thinking: What songs have both shaped and reflected my own personal development?

I could fill an entire book with meditations on pieces of music that have significant meaning for me. I’ve written many times, for example, about Glenn Gould’s second recording of The Goldberg Variations , which has been my single favorite album for the last 30 years—my desert-island disc: the one record I’d take with me if I were exiled and could never hear any other record again.

Were I to write that book, I would also include examinations of many other pieces from the classical canon, as well as jazz favorites and music of other genres.

For now, though, I’m thinking only about songs in the specific sense of that word—short pieces of music with lyrics—and only about those songs that represent key moments of my life. They are not necessarily my favorites, nor do I necessarily regard them all as “great.” They are simply songs that had an enormous impact on me when I first encountered them, and in some way or another represent my desires and my perceptions of the world.

Limiting these reflections to lyrical songs, of course, still presents an enormous challenge. Levitin says it has been estimated that more than 10 million songs have been recorded since the invention of recording technology. I have no idea how many songs I’ve heard in my lifetime, but it certainly has to be in the thousands. The Beatles alone recorded more than 200, and I love virtually every one of them.

The first song that comes to mind, though, was never recorded by anyone and certainly wouldn’t have become a hit if it had been. It sticks in my mind because it is the first song I learned to play on the piano, when, at the age of 5, my mother—a music teacher—sat me down and began walking me through the “Green Book,” as the first volume in the John W. Schaum piano course was called. It is the simplest of melodies set to even simpler lyrics, next to a picture of a puppy: “ Bone Sweet Bone ! (C-D-E) / “Bone Sweet Bone! (C-B-A) / “That’s my favorite song” (C-D-E-C-D).” The melody and lyrics are then repeated, ending with, “Sing it Loud and Strong!”

A mere eight measures—and yet it awakened in me the joy of playing melodies on the piano, and singing along as I struck the notes.

I’d been primed to fall in love with the beauty of simple melodies. In addition to teaching piano and voice, my mother sang constantly around the house while doing chores and once told me that she used to sing to me while I was still in the womb, having read that a fetus can hear music. (Scientific studies support this.) The tunes she favored were standards from the American Songbook—the great body of music that emerged from Broadway and Hollywood musicals of the 1930s through the ‘50s—and in time I would grow to love them every bit as much as I loved the popular songs of my generation. When I was a child, though, they were just there in the background.

By the time I was 10, I had about 20 45s in my collection, and many of them were Beatles records. And yet, one stands out perhaps even more strongly than those of the Fab Four: “ Secret Agent Man,” by Johnny Rivers. (“There’s a man who lives a life of danger.”) The lyrics captured my imagination because I was already a huge James Bond fan, having seen Thunderball in my local movie theater a year earlier. But what I loved even more than the lyrics was the electric-guitar intro, and when I got my own guitar that Christmas, I played those opening notes endlessly, while imagining that I was a rock-and-roll star.

Deep down, though, I don’t think I really wanted to be grown up and oh-so-cool. I still longed for the nurturing comforts of childhood, and I found them—around the same time I was discovering Johnny Rivers and the Beatles—in The Sound of Music , which my mom took me to see when it came out in 1965. I already adored Julie Andrews, having seen Mary Poppins , and when she sang the title song, (“The hills are alive with the sound of music”) while whirling across a mountaintop, it struck deep chords within me, evoking the freedom of a childhood spent outdoors, and the primal desire to sing at the top of my lungs.

And yet, early on, I also developed a melancholy streak, especially when I hit adolescence and began to experience the ecstasy and agony of falling in love. Middle school was an especially difficult time, as it is for many people, but it ended on a high note when, at the school graduation party, I slow danced with a girl I’d had a crush on all year. The sound track of that magic moment was “ Reflections of My Life,” by a now forgotten band called Marmalade. It had already become one of my favorites—which is odd, given the lyrics: “I’m changing, I’m changing everything / Ah, everything around me / The world is a bad place / A bad place, a terrible place to live/ Oh, but I don’t wanna die.”)

And yet, maybe not so odd. Early adolescence, after all, is a time of wrenching change—at once terrifying and exhilarating—and when the group sings the chorus in glorious harmonies that move me to this day—“All my sorrow / Sad tomorrow / Take me back to my old home”—it feels both wistful and hopeful. I can safely say that no other song reminds me more vividly of that period in my life.

During my high school years, my musical imagination was captured mainly by the great progressive-rock groups of the era—especially Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I liked those groups, however, for their instrumental virtuosity more so than their songs. The one song that stands out from high school is “ Fresh Air,” by Quicksilver Messenger Service. They were the second band I ever saw live, which made the song all the more vivid for me, and as a budding (no pun intended) pot head, I got an endless kick out of the notion that the lyric “have another hit of sweet air” was a reference to smoking weed. Marijuana, in fact, had become extremely important to me, bonding me with a group of friends in a way that I hadn’t experienced in middle school. The song symbolized this for me—so much so that when it came time to choose a quote to go under my yearbook picture, I chose that lyric. It didn’t hurt that I also thought I was pulling a fast one on school authorities by speaking in thinly veiled code.

In college, I grew even less song-oriented and more interested in instrumental music—especially jazz, which I began to explore with fervor while working as a deejay at the college radio station. And yet, if I were to choose one song that represents my college years, it would have to be Pink Floyd’s “ Wish You Were Here,” which became the soundtrack for a road trip I took to Fort Lauderdale with three friends during spring break of junior year. Memories of listening to that album—and that song, in particular—as we drove along a dark North Carolina highway in the wee hours, remain as vivid as if the trip had happened yesterday. Thankfully, I’m still close with one of those friends. Alas, our friend Ed—whose car we took on the trip—died a few years after we graduated. Meanwhile, our friend John—who was my closest friend from the age of 13, my college roommate, the best man at my wedding, and my son’s godfather—simply vanished about 20 years ago. I’ve heard rumors that he lives in Vermont, and all of us who are still in touch from those years have tried to find him, but to no avail—a fact that makes the title of the song all the more poignant.

My musical tastes in the years after college were more and more dominated by jazz as well as the jazzy arrangements of the great American-Songbook interpreters: Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, and, especially, Frank Sinatra. I’ve always been an incurable romantic, and these singers spoke to that aspect of my personality. But the great thing about Sinatra is that he combined romance with swagger. And man, could he swing. As a result, it’s awfully hard to choose one song from this period. “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and “The Way You Look Tonight” are certainly contenders. But I’d have to go with “ Fly Me to the Moon,” which I’ve sung during countless car rides, cocktail hours and karaoke nights. I even used to sing it a cappella to my kids at bedtime when they were very young. One of the categories of song that Levitin discusses in his book is songs of joy—and “Fly Me to the Moon” surely fits that description.

In my 50s, I became more interested in contemporary singer-songwriters, Dar Williams in particular. The opening lines of her song “ Mercy of the Fallen,” seemed to sum up my circumstances: “Oh my fair North Star / I have held to you dearly / I had asked you to steer me, / Till one cloud-scattered night, / I got lost in my travels…” The friend who turned me on to Williams’ music also got me interested in Dante, and there seemed to be a parallel to the opening lines of The Inferno : “Midway on our life’s journey, I found myself in dark woods, the right road lost.”

Newly divorced, I felt that I’d lost my way. Everything I’d built my life around seemed to be crumbling—all the more so when my 10-year stint as the editor of Port Folio Weekly came to an abrupt end a year after the dissolution of my marriage. As I stared at the fragments of my life, I realized I had to find new meaning in them—and to embrace ambiguity. To this day, many of the lyrics in Williams’ song remain a mystery to me. And yet, I think that is precisely why the song was so resonant at the time: “There’s the wind and the rain/ And the mercy of the fallen, / Who say they have no claim to know what’s right. / There’s the weak and the strong and the beds that have no answer, / And that’s where I may rest my head tonight.”

Which brings me to the last song on my list: “ My Back Pages,” by Bob Dylan. The song came out in 1964 when I was way to young to appreciate it. It only began to speak to me about 10 years ago—especially the paradoxical line, “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” Dylan is said to have written it after growing disenchanted with the moral arrogance and intellectual naivety that, in his mind, had defined his earlier songs. He could easily have written the line in reverse, equating youth with naivety and age with wisdom. One of the things that makes Dylan great, however, is his knack for unusual turns of phrase, and this one makes sense to me. The simplistic ideas we tend to embrace in our teens and 20s often make us rigid. We’re certain that we’re right, and we see the world, as Dylan puts it, “in black and white.” With each passing year, I think, I’ve become younger in the sense that I’ve become more flexible , more open to gray areas and nuance, and more willing to question my own assumptions—more open, in short, to what Zen masters call “beginners mind.”

And so it is with my love of music, which has come full circle, encompassing 65 years of memories associated with song, along with a deepening appreciation of the new possibilities that music can bring. When I listen to any of these songs, which I’ve heard a thousand times, the memories come flooding back, and suddenly I am 6 again, or 12 or 22. At the same time, I hear them in new ways, filtered through a lifetime of experience and reflection. I am old and young simultaneously. Even playing those three ascending notes that open “Bone Sweet Bone” takes on a magical quality, in some ways similar to the way it did when I was 5, but in many ways embellished and deepened by six decades of gratitude for the soundtrack of my life. I look forward to hearing about yours.

Topics in English Topics in english to learn and fluent pronunciation and writing and facilitate conversation between you and others, whether in school, work or daily life

My life essay

My life essay is a subject that shows the positive and negative aspects of my life. How do I plan for a bright future? What is the way to achieve my future goals? Who are the people around me and how do they influence me? Are they pushing me forward or are they an obstacle to achieving my goals?

My life essay describes the various stages in my life and what I have now learned and progress in my life as well as the good relations that bind me to my family and friends.

My family consists of four people, my father, my mother, my sister and me. There is cooperation between my family members.

We love the system and divide our work. My sister and me help our mother with housework. We also help our father in taking care of the garden of the house and all the birds and pets.

I like to wake up early and go to school and listen to my teachers and understand all my lessons, and play with my friends in time of rest.

When I return from school, I do my homework, then I have lunch with my family members and talk about the important things that have happened to each of us and share ideas and solutions.

At 6 pm, the time of music class and music is my favorite hobby, so I train daily with the music school,I joined the school’s music band and became a key member.

We have played great music at the school concerts. My school entered the schools competition, our musical group won and got the title of best player, which encouraged me to train more and more to become a famous musician.

My father encourages me a lot and buys me musical instruments that I love. My mother encourages me a lot. She listens to all that I am playing and praises me.

My sister also likes to listen to the music pieces I play, and asks her friends to come with her to the school party and encourage me .

In this way we have given you with My life essay ,and you can read more through the following link:

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The Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2022

Featuring bob dylan, elena ferrante, zora neale hurston, jhumpa lahiri, melissa febos, and more.

We’ve come to the end of another bountiful literary year, and for all of us review rabbits here at Book Marks, that can mean only one thing: basic math, and lots of it.

Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the next two weeks we’ll be calculating and revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2022, in the categories of (deep breath): Fiction ; Nonfiction ; Memoir and Biography ; Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror ; Short Story Collections ; Essay Collections; Poetry; Mystery and Crime ; Graphic Literature ; and Literature in Translation .

Today’s installment: Essay Collections .

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing by Elena Ferrante (Europa)

12 Rave • 12 Positive • 4 Mixed

“The lucid, well-formed essays that make up In the Margins are written in an equally captivating voice … Although a slim collection, there is more than enough meat here to nourish both the common reader and the Ferrante aficionado … Every essay here is a blend of deep thought, rigorous analysis and graceful prose. We occasionally get the odd glimpse of the author…but mainly the focus is on the nuts and bolts of writing and Ferrante’s practice of her craft. The essays are at their most rewarding when Ferrante discusses the origins of her books, in particular the celebrated Neapolitan Novels, and the multifaceted heroines that power them … These essays might not bring us any closer to finding out who Ferrante really is. Instead, though, they provide valuable insight into how she developed as a writer and how she works her magic.”

–Malcolm Forbes ( The Star Tribune )

2. Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri (Princeton University Press)

8 Rave • 14 Positive • 1 Mixed

“Lahiri mixes detailed explorations of craft with broader reflections on her own artistic life, as well as the ‘essential aesthetic and political mission’ of translation. She is excellent in all three modes—so excellent, in fact, that I, a translator myself, could barely read this book. I kept putting it aside, compelled by Lahiri’s writing to go sit at my desk and translate … One of Lahiri’s great gifts as an essayist is her ability to braid multiple ways of thinking together, often in startling ways … a reminder, no matter your relationship to translation, of how alive language itself can be. In her essays as in her fiction, Lahiri is a writer of great, quiet elegance; her sentences seem simple even when they’re complex. Their beauty and clarity alone would be enough to wake readers up. ‘Look,’ her essays seem to say: Look how much there is for us to wake up to.”

–Lily Meyer ( NPR )

3. The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster)

10 Rave • 15 Positive • 7 Mixed • 4 Pan

“It is filled with songs and hyperbole and views on love and lust even darker than Blood on the Tracks … There are 66 songs discussed here … Only four are by women, which is ridiculous, but he never asked us … Nothing is proved, but everything is experienced—one really weird and brilliant person’s experience, someone who changed the world many times … Part of the pleasure of the book, even exceeding the delectable Chronicles: Volume One , is that you feel liberated from Being Bob Dylan. He’s not telling you what you got wrong about him. The prose is so vivid and fecund, it was useless to underline, because I just would have underlined the whole book. Dylan’s pulpy, noir imagination is not always for the squeamish. If your idea of art is affirmation of acceptable values, Bob Dylan doesn’t need you … The writing here is at turns vivid, hilarious, and will awaken you to songs you thought you knew … The prose brims everywhere you turn. It is almost disturbing. Bob Dylan got his Nobel and all the other accolades, and now he’s doing my job, and he’s so damn good at it.”

–David Yaffe ( AirMail )

4. Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos (Catapult)

13 Rave • 2 Positive • 2 Mixed Read an excerpt from Body Work here

“In her new book, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative , memoirist Melissa Febos handily recuperates the art of writing the self from some of the most common biases against it: that the memoir is a lesser form than the novel. That trauma narratives should somehow be over—we’ve had our fill … Febos rejects these belittlements with eloquence … In its hybridity, this book formalizes one of Febos’s central tenets within it: that there is no disentangling craft from the personal, just as there is no disentangling the personal from the political. It’s a memoir of a life indelibly changed by literary practice and the rigorous integrity demanded of it …

Febos is an essayist of grace and terrific precision, her sentences meticulously sculpted, her paragraphs shapely and compressed … what’s fresh, of course, is Febos herself, remapping this terrain through her context, her life and writing, her unusual combinations of sources (William H. Gass meets Elissa Washuta, for example), her painstaking exactitude and unflappable sureness—and the new readers she will reach with all of this.”

–Megan Milks ( 4Columns )

5. You Don’t Know Us Negroes by Zora Neale Hurston (Amistad)

12 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed

“… a dazzling collection of her work … You Don’t Know Us Negroes reveals Hurston at the top of her game as an essayist, cultural critic, anthropologist and beat reporter … Hurston is, by turn, provocative, funny, bawdy, informative and outrageous … Hurston will make you laugh but also make you remember the bitter divide in Black America around performance, language, education and class … But the surprising page turner is at the back of the book, a compilation of Hurston’s coverage of the Ruby McCollom murder trial …

Some of Hurston’s writing is sensationalistic, to be sure, but it’s also a riveting take of gender and race relations at the time … Gates and West have put together a comprehensive collection that lets Hurston shine as a writer, a storyteller and an American iconoclast.”

–Lisa Page ( The Washington Post )

6. Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

11 Rave • 4 Positive • 2 Mixed Listen to an interview with Rachel Aviv here

“… written with an astonishing amount of attention and care … Aviv’s triumphs in relating these journeys are many: her unerring narrative instinct, the breadth of context brought to each story, her meticulous reporting. Chief among these is her empathy, which never gives way to pity or sentimentality. She respects her subjects, and so centers their dignity without indulging in the geeky, condescending tone of fascination that can characterize psychologists’ accounts of their patients’ troubles. Though deeply curious about each subject, Aviv doesn’t treat them as anomalous or strange … Aviv’s daunted respect for uncertainty is what makes Strangers to Ourselves distinctive. She is hyperaware of just how sensitive the scale of the self can be.”

–Charlotte Shane ( Bookforum )

7. A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast by Dorthe Nors (Graywolf)

11 Rave • 1 Positive Read an excerpt from A Line in the World here

“Nors, known primarily as a fiction writer, here embarks on a languorous and evocative tour of her native Denmark … The dramas of the past are evoked not so much through individual characters as through their traces—buildings, ruins, shipwrecks—and this westerly Denmark is less the land of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales and sleek Georg Jensen designs than a place of ancient landscapes steeped in myth … People aren’t wholly incidental to the narrative. Nors introduces us to a variety of colorful characters, and shares vivid memories of her family’s time in a cabin on the coast south of Thyborøn. But in a way that recalls the work of Barry Lopez, nature is at the heart of this beautiful book, framed in essay-like chapters, superbly translated by Caroline Waight.”

–Claire Messud ( Harper’s )

8. Raising Raffi: The First Five Years by Keith Gessen (Viking)

4 Rave • 10 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from Raising Raffi here

“A wise, mild and enviably lucid book about a chaotic scene … Is it OK to out your kid like this? … Still, this memoir will seem like a better idea if, a few decades from now, Raffi is happy and healthy and can read it aloud to his own kids while chuckling at what a little miscreant he was … Gessen is a wily parser of children’s literature … He is just as good on parenting manuals … Raising Raffi offers glimpses of what it’s like to eke out literary lives at the intersection of the Trump and Biden administrations … Needing money for one’s children, throughout history, has made parents do desperate things — even write revealing parenthood memoirs … Gessen’s short book is absorbing not because it delivers answers … It’s absorbing because Gessen is a calm and observant writer…who raises, and struggles with, the right questions about himself and the world.”

–Dwight Garner ( The New York Times )

9. The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser (Doubleday)

8 Rave • 4 Positive • 2 Mixed • 1 Pan Watch an interview with CJ Hauser here

“17 brilliant pieces … This tumbling, in and out of love, structures the collection … Calling Hauser ‘honest’ and ‘vulnerable’ feels inadequate. She embraces and even celebrates her flaws, and she revels in being a provocateur … It is an irony that Hauser, a strong, smart, capable woman, relates to the crane wife’s contortions. She felt helpless in her own romantic relationship. I don’t have one female friend who has not felt some version of this, but putting it into words is risky … this collection is not about neat, happy endings. It’s a constant search for self-discovery … Much has been written on the themes Hauser excavates here, yet her perspective is singular, startlingly so. Many narratives still position finding the perfect match as a measure of whether we’ve led successful lives. The Crane Wife dispenses with that. For that reason, Hauser’s worldview feels fresh and even radical.”

–Hope Reese ( Oprah Daily )

10. How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo (Viking)

8 Rave • 2 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an excerpt from How to Read Now here

“Elaine Castillo’s How to Read Now begins with a section called ‘Author’s Note, or a Virgo Clarifies Things.’ The title is a neat encapsulation of the book’s style: rigorous but still chatty, intellectual but not precious or academic about it … How to Read Now proceeds at a breakneck pace. Each of the book’s eight essays burns bright and hot from start to finish … How to Read Now is not for everybody, but if it is for you, it is clarifying and bracing. Castillo offers a full-throated critique of some of the literary world’s most insipid and self-serving ideas …

So how should we read now? Castillo offers suggestions but no resolution. She is less interested in capital-A Answers…and more excited by the opportunity to restore a multitude of voices and perspectives to the conversation … A book is nothing without a reader; this one is co-created by its recipients, re-created every time the page is turned anew. How to Read Now offers its audience the opportunity to look past the simplicity we’re all too often spoon-fed into order to restore ourselves to chaos and complexity—a way of seeing and reading that demands so much more of us but offers even more in return.”

–Zan Romanoff ( The Los Angeles Times )

Our System:

RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Philosophy of Life — A Glimpse into My Personal Philosophy of Life

A Glimpse into My Philosophy in Life

Categories: Personal Philosophy Philosophy of Life

About this sample

Words: 468 |

Published: May 22, 2022

Words: 468 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Life's journey is a labyrinth, shaped by unpredictable twists and turns. Our actions, whether subtle or profound, script our unique narratives. This essay delves into personal philosophy and self-discovery, akin to the wisdom of Socrates. It highlights the significance of family, the pressures of academia, and the pervasive habit of comparing one's life with others. Envy distorts our perception, blinding us to the fact that every life we observe is but a chapter in a greater story. Experience emerges as the greatest teacher, shaping character and enriching our memories. Socrates' timeless wisdom to "Know thyself" encourages self-discovery amid life's trials and tribulations. Hardships and failures are not defeats but stepping stones to wisdom. The essay narrates a personal journey marked by adversity, despair, and ultimate self-realization. The author's courageous battle reflects a spirit akin to Socrates' call to "look at oneself." Self-awareness becomes a powerful shield against external judgments.

My philosophy in life essay

Works cited.

Long, J. C., & Foreman, S. L. (2017). Life and meaning: A philosophical reader. University of California Press.
Soccio, D. J. (2016). Archetypes of wisdom: An introduction to philosophy. Cengage Learning.
Solomon, R. C., & Higgins, K. M. (Eds.). (2019). The big questions: A short introduction to philosophy. Cengage Learning.
Nozick, R. (2013). Philosophical explanations. Harvard University Press.
Thiroux, J. P., & Krasemann, K. W. (2019). Ethics: Theory and practice. Pearson.
Plato. (2013). The trial and death of Socrates : Four dialogues. Hackett Publishing.
Nietzsche, F. (2010). Thus spoke Zarathustra. Penguin.
Sartre, J. P. (2012). Existentialism is a humanism. Yale University Press.
Irwin, T. H. (2016). Plato's moral theory: The early and middle dialogues. Oxford University Press.
Popper, K. R. (2014). The open society and its enemies. Routledge.

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Connection, Creativity and Drama: Teen Life on Social Media in 2022

Majorities of teens credit social media with strengthening their friendships and providing support while also noting the emotionally charged side of these platforms, table of contents.

Teens reflect on parents’ concerns and assessments of teen life on social media
Teens who have a more positive outlook about social media are more likely to say these platforms benefit them
Online activism is not common on social media among teens; only a minority of teens are highly concerned about digital privacy
In their own words, teens share their thoughts about social media and the challenges and benefits of using it
Teens are far more likely to post about their accomplishments and family than their religious or political beliefs
Some teens – especially older girls – forego posting things on social media because it could be used to embarrass them
Most teens are not politically active on social media, but their experiences and views related to online activism vary across parties
Teens more likely to view social media as having a negative effect on others than themselves
Teen girls more likely than teen boys to cite certain negative experiences on social media
Pluralities of teens say teen experiences on social media are better than parents think and believe their parents aren’t too worried about their use
Majority of teens feel little to no control over their data being collected by social media, but just a fifth are extremely or very concerned about it
Teens’ reactions to what they see on social media and how they feel about posting run the emotional gamut from anxiety to excitement
Teens have appreciation for social connectivity on these platforms but also concerns about drama, unrealistic expectations and bullies
Different social media serve different purposes for teens like general socializing, entertainment and direct personal communication
Teens acknowledge the tensions of ‘cancel culture’ on social media
Teens have a range of definitions for digital privacy
Activism is a draw for some teens on social media
Some teens say their use of social media changed during the pandemic
Teens detail how their lives would change if social media disappeared overnight
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Survey methodology
Appendix B: Focus groups methodology
Appendix C: Supplementary table

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand the experiences American teens are having with social media. For this analysis, we surveyed 1,316 U.S. teens. The survey was conducted online by Ipsos from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, which is an independent committee of experts that specializes in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Ipsos recruited the teens via their parents who were a part of its KnowledgePanel , a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses. The survey is weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with parents by age, gender, race, ethnicity, household income and other categories.

This report also includes quotes from teen focus groups. Pew Research Center worked with PSB Insights to conduct four live, online focus groups with a total of 16 U.S. 13- to 17-year-olds. The focus groups were conducted Jan. 12-13, 2022.

Here are the questions used for this report , along with responses. Here is the survey methodology and the focus groups methodology .

Society has long fretted about technology’s impact on youth. But unlike radio and television, the hyperconnected nature of social media has led to new anxieties , including worries that these platforms may be negatively impacting teenagers’ mental health . Just this year, the White House announced plans to combat potential harms teens may face when using social media.

Majorities of teens say social media provides them with a space for connection, creativity and support …

Despite these concerns, teens themselves paint a more nuanced picture of adolescent life on social media. It is one in which majorities credit these platforms with deepening connections and providing a support network when they need it, while smaller – though notable – shares acknowledge the drama and pressures that can come along with using social media, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted April 14 to May 4, 2022. 1

Eight-in-ten teens say that what they see on social media makes them feel more connected to what’s going on in their friends’ lives, while 71% say it makes them feel like they have a place where they can show their creative side. And 67% say these platforms make them feel as if they have people who can support them through tough times. A smaller share – though still a majority – say the same for feeling more accepted. These positive sentiments are expressed by teens across demographic groups.

When asked about the overall impact of social media on them personally, more teens say its effect has been mostly positive (32%) than say it has been mostly negative (9%). The largest share describes its impact in neutral terms: 59% believe social media has had neither a positive nor a negative effect on them. For teens who view social media’s effect on them as mostly positive, many describe maintaining friendships, building connections, or accessing information as main reasons they feel this way, with one teen saying:

“It connects me with the world, provides an outlet to learn things I otherwise wouldn’t have access to, and allows me to discover and explore interests.” – Teen girl

While these youth describe the benefits they get from social media, this positivity is not unanimous. Indeed, 38% of teens say they feel overwhelmed by all the drama they see on social media, while about three-in-ten say these platforms have made them feel like their friends are leaving them out of things (31%) or have felt pressure to post content that will get lots of likes or comments (29%). Another 23% say these platforms make them feel worse about their own life.

Teen girls more likely than teen boys to say social media has made them feel overwhelmed by drama, excluded by friends or worse about their life

Teen girls report encountering some of these pressures at higher rates. Some 45% of girls say they feel overwhelmed because of all the drama on social media, compared with 32% of boys. Girls are also more likely than boys to say social media has made them feel like their friends are leaving them out of things (37% vs. 24%) or worse about their own lives (28% vs. 18%).

When asked how often they decide not to post on social media out of fear of it being using against them, older teen girls stand out. For example, half of 15- to 17-year-old girls say they often or sometimes decide not to post something on social media because they worry others might use it to embarrass them, compared with smaller shares of younger girls or boys.

These are some of the key findings from a Pew Research Center online survey of 1,316 U.S. teens conducted from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

Teens are more likely to view social media as having a negative effect on others than themselves

The strong presence of social media in many teenagers’ lives begs the question: What impact, if any, are these sites having on today’s youth?

More teens say social media has had a negative effect on people their age than on them, personally

Even as teens tend to view the impact of social media on their own lives in more positive than negative terms, they are more critical of its influence on their peers. While 9% of teens think social media has had a mostly negative effect on them personally, that share rises to 32% when the same question is framed about people their age .

There are also gaps when looking at the positive side of these platforms. Some 32% of teens say social media has had a positive effect on them personally, compared with a smaller share (24%) who say the same about these platforms’ impact on teens more broadly.

Still, regardless of whether teens are assessing social media’s impact on themselves or others, the most common way they describe its effect is as neither positive nor negative.

Only a minority of teens say their parents are extremely or very worried about their social media use

Parents are often on the front lines in navigating challenges their children may face when using social media. While previous Center surveys reflect parents’ anxieties about social media, only a minority of teens in this survey describe their parents as being highly concerned about their use of these sites.

Some 22% believe their parents are extremely or very worried about them using social media, while another 27% say their parents are somewhat worried. However, many teens – 41% – say their parents are worried only a little or not at all. And 9% say they aren’t sure about the level of concern their parents have over their social media use. These youth also weighed in on whether parents overall – not just their own – have an accurate picture of what it’s like to be a teenager on social media. Some 39% say teens’ experiences are better than parents think, while 27% say things on social media are worse for teens than parents think. Still, one-third believe parents’ assessments are about right.

Teens who see social media as a positive for all teens more likely to report positive personal experiences

Teens who see social media as having a mostly positive effect on people their age are more likely than teens who see mostly negative effects to say teens’ experiences on social media are better than parents think. They are also more likely to say they have had positive experiences while personally using these platforms.

Whether teens see social media’s effects as positive or negative relates to their perspective on whether parents’ views stack up to reality. About six-in-ten teens who say that social media has had a mostly positive effect on people their age say teens’ experiences on social media are better than parents think, while a plurality of teens who say social media has been mostly negative for people their age say teens’ experiences on social media are worse than parents think.

Teens who have a more positive view of social media’s effect on their peers report more positive personal experiences with these platforms. More than half (54%) of teens who see social media as having a mostly positive effect on people their age say that what they see on social media makes them feel a lot more connected to what’s going on in their friends’ lives. About four-in-ten say they feel a lot like they have a place where they can show their creative side. Some 35% of teens who see the effect as mostly positive say social media makes them feel a lot like they have people who can support them through tough times, and 28% say it makes them feel a lot more accepted. By comparison, much smaller shares – about or quarter or fewer – of teens who see social media as having a negative effect say what they see on social media makes them feel each of these positive experiences a lot.

While teens who have a positive outlook on the impact of social media are more likely to report personally benefiting from these sites, they tend to say they’ve experienced the more negative side in similar proportions as those who rate these sites’ effect on teens negatively. There is one exception: 12% of teens who believe social media has a mostly negative effect on teens say they feel overwhelmed by all of the drama on these platforms a lot, compared with 6% of those who see its impact as mostly positive.

Beyond broad measurement of social media, this survey also tackled two popular topics in the debates around social media: online activism and digital privacy .

Only small shares of teens are engaging in online activism on social media, but experiences and views vary by political affiliation

On topics from MAGA to Black Lives Matter , social media platforms have become an important way for people of all ages to share information, mobilize and discuss issues that are important to them.

Few teens engaged in online activism in past year; Democratic teens are more likely to have done so than Republicans

But this survey reveals that only a minority of teens say they have been civically active on social media in the past year via one of the three means asked about at the time of the survey. One-in-ten teens say they have encouraged others to take action on political or social issues that are important to them or have posted a picture to show their support for a political or social issue in the past 12 months. Some 7% say the same about using hashtags related to a political or social cause on social media during this period. Taken together, 15% of teens have engaged in at least one of these activities on social media in the past 12 months.

While majorities of both Democrats and Republicans have not used social media in this way, there are some notable partisan differences among those who engage in activism. For example, 14% of teens who identify as Democrats or who lean toward the Democratic Party say they have used social media to encourage others to take action on political or social issues that are important to them in the past 12 months, compared with 6% of teens who are Republicans or GOP leaners. And larger shares of Democrats than Republicans say they have posted pictures or used hashtags to show support for a political or social issue in the past year. In total, Democratic teens are twice as likely as Republican teens to have engaged in any of these activities during this time (20% vs. 10%).

Among teens, Democrats more likely than Republicans to see social media as extremely or very important for finding new viewpoints

Not only do small shares of teens participate in these types of activities on social media, relatively few say these platforms play a critical role in how they interact with political and social issues.

About one-in-ten or fewer teens say social media is extremely or very important to them personally when it comes to exposing them to new viewpoints, getting involved with issues that are important to them, finding other people who share their views, helping them figure out their own views on an issue or giving them a venue to express their political opinions.

Just as Democratic teens are more likely than Republican teens to engage in these forms of online activism, they also see social media as a more integral tool for civic engagement. For example, 18% of Democratic teens say social media is extremely or very important to them when it comes to exposing them to new points of view, compared with 8% of Republican teens. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say these platforms are at least very important to them for getting involved with issues that are important to them, finding others who share their views or helping them figure out their own way of thinking.

And when asked about what people should do more broadly, Democratic teens (22%) are more likely than Republican teens (12%) to say that regardless of whether they engage in online activism themselves, it is very or extremely important for people to speak out about political or social issues on social media.

Teens feel a lack of control over their personal data but aren’t too concerned about social media companies having this information

A majority of teens feel as if they have little to no control over their data being collected by social media companies … but only one-in-five are extremely or very concerned about the amount of information these sites have about them

Amid the continued privacy discussions in the media and among policymakers , teens have nuanced views on the topic. Just 14% of teens report feeling a lot of control over the personal information that social media companies collect about them. Meanwhile, 60% of teens feel like they have little to no control. A further 26% say they are not sure how much control they have over companies’ collection of this information.

Despite feeling a lack of control over their data being collected by social media companies, teens are largely unconcerned. A fifth of teens (20%) say they feel very or extremely concerned about the amount of their personal information social media companies might have. Still, a notable segment of teens – 44% – say they have little or no concern about how much these companies might know about them.

“TikTok is more of a place to watch videos … then Instagram [is] more to see what my friends are up to and then Snapchat [is] a way of more direct communication.” – Teen girl

To inform and supplement this survey, the Center conducted a series of teen focus groups to better understand how teens were using social media and thinking about topics related to it. These focus groups highlight how nuanced teens’ views on social media truly are.

Teens share how different platforms serve different purposes as they navigate online life and that using these platforms can lead to a variety of emotions and experiences, from anxiety to excitement and from improved social connections to bullying: 2

“I’ve liked, especially during the pandemic, being able to communicate with my friends more, since I couldn’t see them in person. And then also, having something to watch to entertain me, which was good, because we were just stuck at home.” – Teen girl

“Okay, for me, it is like bullies or like negative comments or stuff like that, you just see a lot of people hating under the comments, under your posts and stuff like that.” – Teen boy

“During the pandemic, I feel like less people were using social media in certain ways, because there wasn’t much to post, like going out. You’re just staying at home. But TikTok, everyone was on it, because it was their source of entertainment.” – Teen girl

As teens walk us through their perspectives, they also share how the pandemic changed (and didn’t change) their social media habits and what they think their lives would be like if social media disappeared overnight:

“I think it would be a little bit [messed up if social media disappeared]. I spend 99% of my time indoors in front of my computer, if I’m not playing games, I’m watching pirated videos. If I’m not watching videos, maybe I’m reading an article. I’m always online. And I hardly step out of my room. I have had issues with my dad. He said my room is too creepy. I should come outside and play with people but I’m not really good at making friends. So, it’s a bit hard on me.” – Teen boy

“[When] we were younger, [social media] didn’t have an effect on us and social media wasn’t as big as it is now. I feel like we were more free and more happy, and no stress or overthinking or insecure.” – Teen girl

For more quotes and themes from the focus groups, see Chapter 3 .

A 2018 Center survey also asked U.S teens some of the same questions about experiences and views related to social media (e.g., whether social media makes them feel more connected to what’s going on in their friend’s lives). Direct comparisons cannot be made across the two surveys due to mode, sampling and recruitment differences. Please read the Methodology section to learn more about how the current survey was conducted. ↩
Quotations in this report may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity. ↩

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Study Today

Largest Compilation of Structured Essays and Exams

Essay on Proudest Moment of My Life

December 14, 2017 by Study Mentor 1 Comment

A moment is a short amount of time that occasionally occurs in human beings life. A moment is something that each and every person cherishes. Moments happens occasionally and are remembered by the person in whose life it has happened in. Moment is a brief amount of time that passes too quickly for anyone’s like.

However, no matter how short the time is for a moment, it engraves itself into the memory of the people. During old age most of the people remembers these little moments of their life and relives them in their imagination and cherish them.

Moments are the times that make a person’s heart beat faster and make them happy. Moments are really beautiful time of life. Each and every person has certain moments in their life that they are proud of.

The proudest moment of my life is when I won two quiz competitions one after another. I never thought that it will happen to me but for some reason it did and I never felt so proud on my accomplishment before in my life. I wasn’t a legitimate candidate for the second competition and yet I took part in it and even own it.

Everyone was proud of me. The story is actually funny and till today I don’t get it that how my luck was on my side that day because of which I won two quiz competition at the same day. It is really interesting and to this day I marvel about the fact.

Sometimes I don’t even believe it but the trophies on my showcase remind me that it wasn’t a dream and it did happen with me.

I was ten years old at that time. There was a fair going on in our village where the competition was held. The age limit of the quiz competitions was set. In the first one, children up to the age ten can participate and in the second, children up in between the age of 11 – 18 can participate.

I applied for the first competition. The second competition was occurring in pairs and my elder sister and cousin entered the second competition as partners. The first quiz competition was scheduled to start from 4 o clock. I was there on time and took my sit on the stage.

There were three rounds in the competition. The questions were easy and I knew almost all the answers. So, it wasn’t a problem for me. After the competition was over, I was declared as the winner. I was really happy after I was announced as the winner and my sister and cousin came to congratulate me.

Their competition was scheduled to start from 7 o clock. In the mean time between the quiz competitions, all three of us went to check out the stalls and to have fun.

Ten minutes before the competition started, I left them near the stage and went on my own to roam around as I still had time. Then it was time for the competition to start and I wasn’t on my designated seat. So, I decided to use the short cut and use the back stage to go from one end to another to go to my designated seat.

Who knew that simple decision of mine will give me my proudest moment of life till today’s date. It was time to start the competition and for some reason it still didn’t start and I was hurrying through the back stage to go to my seat.

At that time, the host of the competition saw me and called me up on the stage. I was really confused as I didn’t know why he wanted to talk with me so I went.

He explained to me that a partner of one of the participant was absent and they can’t start the competition without him so they requested me to take the empty seat and participate on behalf of the absent partner. I was shocked and didn’t know what to do.

But they managed to persuade me into taking part in the competition even though I wasn’t eligible for it but they made an exception that year.

I after taking my seat on the stage beside an unknown partner realised that I am competing against my sister and cousin. They were shocked too and had no idea about what I was doing there. After that the host explained the situation and finally started with the competition.

I sat directly in front of my sister and cousin and the realisation hit me on full force that the group that I wanted to win in this competition, I am against them. After I came in terms with myself, I started to play with all my concentration and I wasn’t just going to give up because I am competing against my family.

I wouldn’t go down without a battle. The questions were definitely tougher than my own competition but I knew most of the answers. As the competition continues on, I realised I am almost tied with my sister and cousin. My partner hardly knew any answer.

I was the one giving most of the answer. I couldn’t answer a few questions as they were not on my league. My partner answered only one question and I am grateful to him that he did or else we wouldn’t have ranked on that competition.

The competition was intense as both my sister and cousin and I were fighting for the second position as both of our group couldn’t answer a few questions and there was another group who answered all the questions.

The battle was intense and the result left everyone in shock. After the result was announced, it turns out that my group and my sister’s group both came in the second position. Even the host was surprised as he knew that all three of us are family.

I was really happy that I came in second place in a competition that I shouldn’t have been in on the first place and also had to go against my family in it. I was also happy for my sister and cousin that they managed to tie with me or I managed to tie with them.

They were happy for themselves and as well as for me also. That day when I won two quiz competitions back to back, was the happiest and proudest moments of my life. My parents were really happy and were in shocked because both of their daughters managed to rank second place in the same competition.

However, after the competition was over, the rivalry that I and my sister and cousin showed during the competition against each other was also over and just like that, we went ahead in the fair together to check out rest of the shops. We later on laughed about it and moved on from it.

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I Got Rid Of My “Perfect Boyfriend” Checklist — & Found The Perfect Love For Me

More from relationships, r29 original series.

If you didn’t get a letter about ANCHOR, here’s what happens next

Updated: Aug. 28, 2024, 8:12 a.m.
| Published: Aug. 26, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Karin Price Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Earlier this week, 1.5 million New Jersey residents received notification letters that their ANCHOR property tax benefit applications would be filed automatically.

If you didn’t get one, it’s time to check your mailbox again.

The state Treasury Department said those who didn’t receive the letters would receive an application packet, which the agency said would be drop in the mail on Monday, Aug. 26.

The packets — purple for renters and green for homeowners — will have the information people need to file their applications, including the necessary ID number and PIN.

Some residents will need to go through an extra level of identity verification — through ID.me — when they log in to anchor.nj.gov to file their applications.

MORE: The next ANCHOR property tax benefit: Your questions answered.

Take note of the information provided in the packet. If your information has changed, such as if you had a name change or if your direct deposit information has changed, you will need to update your information when you apply.

New this year: You will be able to upload documentation, such as marriage or death certificates, through the state’s secure portal. If you don’t want to do it online, you can download a paper application from the state’s website and mail it in with your documentation.

The ANCHOR benefits, which are for the 2021 tax year, will pay up to $1,500 to homeowners and $450 for renters, with senior homeowners and renters getting an extra $250. The Treasury Department said payments will be issued on a rolling basis beginning in November. Last year, the first round of direct deposits went out on Oct. 12, and more rounds of direct deposits and checks were sent in subsequent weeks.

Residents who don’t receive a packet can log in to anchor.nj.gov and go through the identity verification process with ID.me , after which they will receive the needed ID number and PIN.

Nov. 30, 2024 is the deadline to apply.

If you need help, you can call the ANCHOR hotline at (888) 238-1233 or (609) 826-4282. You can also get in-person help at a regional help center. You can see all the locations here. Appointments are not required, but you can make one on the state website.

Stories by Karin Price Mueller

I got ANCHOR last year. Why do I have to prove my ID this year?
Here’s how to protect yourself from mosquito-borne Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare, dangerous disease
Was your Social Security number stolen in massive data hack? Here’s how to find out.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on X at @KPMueller .

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New ASU report addresses affordable housing crisis in Arizona

Morrison Institute summit tackles issues affecting state's economic growth

A woman with glasses stands behind a lectern smiling.

Alison Cook-Davis, director of research at the Morrison Institute, discussed the results of a new report on the housing crisis released by the Arizona Research Center for Housing Equity and Sustainability, of which she is co-director, at the Housing and Water Policy Summit at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Friday, Aug. 16. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News

A new report from Arizona State University shows that the state is in a housing crisis, with rents skyrocketing 72% from 2010 to 2022 and home-buying being out of reach for much of the population.

In addition, critical concerns about the future of the water supply and the energy grid are complicating housing development and economic growth.

But a gathering of top experts in the state revealed that the picture is not entirely gloomy. The Housing and Water Policy Summit, held Friday by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at ASU, showed how municipal and state governments are working to create more affordable housing and how other stakeholders are addressing the balance between economic growth and strategic resource management.

“Groundwater across the state is a hugely valuable supply,” said Kathryn Sorensen, research director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU who moderated a panel discussion titled “Envisioning Smart Growth” at the summit.

“There isn't enough water for everything, right? Human wants are always unlimited. Our ability to meet those wants is always somewhat limited. I hope you think of these trade-offs in terms of which developments are worth the water.”

Woman speaking into microphone with bar graph on a presentation screen behind her

The “State of Housing in Arizona Report,” released at the summit, outlined several factors driving the state’s housing crunch. The report is the first created by the Arizona Research Center for Housing Equity and Sustainability , funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and housed in the Morrison Institute.

“Access to housing that is affordable, or housing that costs 30% or less of a household income, is essential for individuals and communities to thrive and is recognized as a fundamental human right,” said Alison Cook-Davis, director of research at the Morrison Institute and co-director of the Arizona Research Center for Housing Equity and Sustainability.

“However, Arizona is confronting a housing crisis as supply and affordability have markedly declined over the past decade. Arizona residents are increasingly experiencing housing insecurity and the housing crisis has become a central issue for our state and local governments.”

Among the top takeaways of the report:

Arizonans’ incomes are not keeping up with rent prices. Minimum wage workers would need to work 86 hours per week to reach the annual income needed, $62,252, to afford a two-bedroom home. In 2022, nearly half of all renters were cost-burdened — paying more than 30% of their income toward housing — the highest percentage of cost-burden since 2010.
There’s not enough affordable and available housing for extremely low-income households. This gap increases the risk of evictions and homelessness. Moreover, 26% of publicly subsidized low-income housing units are set to expire in the next 30 years.
The median sale price of a home increased by 57% from 2019 to 2023, to $423,400. At the same time, high home values and lower interest rates during the pandemic allowed existing homeowners to refinance and lower their housing costs, which reduced the supply of houses for sale. That lack of supply, along with higher interest rates, put home-buying out of reach for many first-time homebuyers.
Affordability ratios (price to income ratio) are higher for Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations than for white and Asian households.
Arizona’s population growth has outpaced the growth of all types of housing. Since 2010, the population has grown by 22% but housing units have increased by only about 12%.
Some cities, including Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson — as well as the state Legislature — have changed policies to create more affordable housing, such as approving accessory dwelling units, easing rezoning and preventing income discrimination. Federal funding will also create more units.

The summit also addressed topics that are intertwined with housing in the state’s future.

Water challenges

Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy, housed in the Morrison Institute, gave a talk titled “Water is Not the Problem – Yet.”

“So to our question, are we running out of water for housing in Arizona? The answer to this question is kind of complicated,” Porter told the crowd.

“We're not running out of water for housing, but we are challenged to find the water for some types of housing.”

Groundwater is a non-renewable supply. To acquire approval for new building, developers must prove that they have a 100-year supply of water, which is possible in communities served by municipal suppliers, such as the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, Glendale, Chandler, etc.

But further housing development may be affected in areas outside of municipal suppliers, such as the fast-growing communities of Buckeye and Queen Creek, she said.

“It's a water problem for the region because it means growth that had been expected and planned is now challenged to figure out a different water solution,” she said.

Increased housing density will ease pressure on the water supply, Porter said.

“Imagine duplexes or triplexes or other types of multifamily housing, which means more water per acre is being used indoors. And so more of that water can be kept in the system — reclaimed, treated and used over and over again,” she said.

“That's the future for water management of many of the more built-out cities in central Arizona.”

Woman in glasses speaks behind a lectern.

Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy in the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, talked at the summit about how the state's groundwater restrictions may be a challenge to some kinds of development.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News

Three people sitting on chairs on stage for panel

ASU's Wellington "Duke" Reiter (center), executive director of University City Exchange, speaks on a panel about "Envisioning Smart Growth" alongside Chris Camacho (right), president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and Ted Geisler, president of Arizona Public Service.

Woman seated on a stage speaking into a microphone.

Anna Maria Chavez, president and CEO of the Arizona Community Foundation, told the summit crowd that elected officials must work on making it possible for more state residents to buy their own homes.

The power grid

Electricity demand has jumped over the past few years, according to Ted Geisler, president of Arizona Public Service. Reasons for that include increased computing demands (including artificial intelligence), more manufacturing and more electric vehicles.

“When we fast forward between now and 2031, we think electric demand on the Arizona grid will grow by at least 40%,” he said.

Driving that increase is higher nighttime temperatures but also more commerce, including big data centers. In fact, APS is expecting several very large-scale power users to connect to the state’s grid over the next few years.

“But we're letting them know that we likely can't build the grid fast enough to connect them on their desired timing. And we need to be careful not to connect them faster than we can build infrastructure to ensure that we don't put reliability at risk,” he said.

“We have to ensure that along with reliability, we keep it affordable. It's one of the key attributes for why people move here.”

Economic growth

As president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Chris Camacho said that over the past decade, the landscape has changed for companies interested in investing in Arizona.

“Ten years ago, the conversation would largely be about technical talent, education and being a low-cost market,” he said.

“Fast forward to today, it's air quality, power reliability and — no question — water.”

Camacho said that much of industry coming to Arizona, including the big semiconductor plants, are not polluters.

“These are not big smoke stack, VOC-yielding enterprises anymore. This is clean manufacturing.”

He said his role is like a consultant.

“I help them to analyze risk and timing of policy and effects of, ‘Can you use effluent instead of potable water?’” he said.

“We have to think very intentionally about the market we want to become and maybe the place we don't want to become.”

The human factor

Anna Maria Chavez, president and CEO of the Arizona Community Foundation, said that it will take strong leadership to create equity in housing.

“How do we ensure that the older population is being able to age in place in Arizona and that the young generation is able to get an education to earn a livable wage, to be able to buy a home? Because we know there's a direct correlation between home ownership and wealth accumulation,” she said.

She encouraged the elected officials at the summit to work on creating more affordable housing options.

“Home ownership builds equity in families exponentially faster than anything else,” she said.

“I am bringing the human side of this data to you because I'm a case in point. My parents, because of their ability to buy a home in Eloy, Arizona, were able to get a second mortgage on that house so that I could go to Yale University. I broke the poverty cycle from my family. So for me, it matters.”

Arizona as the future

Wellington “Duke” Reiter is the founder and executive director of the Ten Across project, which looks at the Interstate-10 corridor across the Sunbelt as the “premier observatory for the future.”

“I would say our thesis is this — that if you want to see the future of this country, this is where it's going to happen,” said Reiter, who also is a senior advisor to ASU President Michael Crow and executive director of University City Exchange at ASU.

“This is where the growth is. This is where the greatest disparity economically is. It's also the place of greatest demographic change and it's on the front lines of climate change.

“You take all those factors and you have the recipe for understanding where we're moving and our ability to take on — which is really hard, societally — the knowledge that we have about the future.”

Reiter said that no society has ever had more access to data analytics, and he cited examples of goals that Arizona needs to achieve in the coming decades.

“Are you despondent about what seems almost impossible to achieve by those dates? Or can we give you the license or the tools to be involved in addressing the data in a productive way?” he said.

“We hope the latter is the case.”

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22 Valuable Life Lessons For 2022

1) Not everyone is meant to be in your life forever

2) Everything in moderation, including moderation

3) Take risks while you’re young

4) Life happens unexpectedly

5) Life doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need

6) Happiness comes from helping others

7) Know how to be independent

8) Family are the people who are there for you

9) It is OK to disconnect

10) Take a break from self-development

11) Don’t be afraid to say “I’m sorry”

12) Say “I love you” more

13) Life is too short to not do what you want

14) It’s okay to say “no”

15) A great team makes all the difference

16) Compromise is key

17) Nothing is more important than health

18) Everyone wants a friend

19) Be wary of gaslighters

20) Stop Complaining

21) Small changes improve the world

22) Communicate

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My 2022 Annual Reflection: Practicing Resilience and Finding Joy

Looking back at 2022

2: Hard goodbyes and joyful hellos

3. The silver lining of missing something is the immense joy when you get it back

4. Practicing what I preach

What I learned in 2022 for 2023

1. Life is not linear

2. I can always begin again

3. Now is not forever

My theme for 2023: Space and grace

What will your theme for 2023 be?

Ashley Janssen

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