1. A Cabin in the Swiss Alps — Spring, Age 22
The air rang cold in my chest.
I lit the stove with fingers still half-dreaming.
Outside, frost clung to the pine like it hadn’t made up its mind.
My ritual was simple:
boil oats,
wash my face in glacier melt,
write one sentence in a leather notebook I never dared reread.
At twenty-two, I believed mornings were for becoming someone new.
Most days, I just became myself again.
2. A Flat in Berlin — Summer, Age 30
No curtains.
Light crashed in like a drunk guest at a quiet party.
The fan clicked—four seconds on, four seconds off—
steady as regret.
Coffee in a chipped mug.
Unread messages stacked like unspoken truths.
The neighbor’s dog barked, same hour, every day.
I started calling it silence.
At thirty, I learned rituals don’t always comfort.
Sometimes, they just keep you from falling apart.
3. A Beach Shack in Sri Lanka — Autumn, Age 44
The tide was the only clock I trusted.
I walked barefoot, tea in hand, letting the sea trace my ankles.
No screens.
No schedule.
Only wind, salt, and an old song that stayed with me long after it ended.
I let the morning arrive how it wanted—
sometimes bright, sometimes heavy,
sometimes not at all.
By forty-four, I stopped shaping the day.
I let it shape me.
Lesson:
We spend years trying to design the perfect morning—
a formula, a rhythm, a version of ourselves we hope to meet.
But over time, we learn:
it’s not the ritual that matters,
it’s how gently we greet the person we are when the light returns.
life 