I Grew Up in My 20s

What I’ve learned as I approach 29

Somewhere near Kotor

I started writing this newsletter a few years ago thinking that I’d learned a lot about life and that it was time to share that knowledge with an audience. As I’m rereading my posts, I disagree with much of what I had to say.

What changed?

I’m totally done with the business side of art.

I started as a photographer trying to sell my own pieces. My venture down the road of running a gallery was a poorly conceptualized attempt to learn the business. This led to financial ruin and a lot of negative emotion. I wasn’t in it for the right reasons.

I’m leaving Georgia for good.

I’m also going to leave Georgia soon. While I had a lot of good (and bad) times in Tbilisi, it’s finally time to move on. Once I move to the next country, I’ll be writing more about Georgia.

It doesn’t matter what you do for a living.

I no longer see work as a way to seek happiness and fulfillment. I’m teaching English and translating, and I’m making more money than I ever did in the art business.

I stayed in the art world because it was “cool,” but there are other ways to be cool (actually, if you’re doing something just to be cool, you’re screwed).

I’m also over the idea that I have to be doing 10 billion side businesses to express my multifaceted personality.

Write for the sake of writing when you have something to say. Go hiking. Go running. Hang out with friends. It’s not all about money.

I’m done talking about work. Work is just one part of life, and our culture’s obsession with work as a source of meaning is causing a lot of crazy people to make crazy decisions.

I’m kind of a bad guy.

We all have some darkness inside of us, but the longer I live, the more aware of it I become, and it disturbs me. I’m intentionally trying to be a better person (a kinder, less self-involved one).

Basically, I just grew up.

I like spending time alone in nature and together with family and friends. I like helping people through my work. Everything else is ancillary.

I don’t want to try to impress shallow people anymore. I don’t want to see any more how-to’s. I want stories. I want humanity.