When I moved to Canada from Germany, I didn’t expect the idea of “home” to become such a moving target. I had lived away from home before (during my undergrad in Berlin) and while it was chaotic, challenging, and very much its own world, it still felt culturally familiar. I was surrounded by a language I knew, humor I understood, food I grew up with, and a sense of rhythm that, while faster and louder than what I was used to in Düsseldorf, didn’t require translation.

Uncoolness, in this context, isn’t about a lack of awareness. It’s about a lack of armor.

Sending a podcast-length voice memo instead of a text. Celebrating your small win without irony. The not-so-close friend who remembers your tea preference. These gestures are rarely praised. But they register. They stay with us.

There’s a kind of integrity in people who let themselves care without trying to package it.

Mastery is often misunderstood. We like to think of it as a destination: something we reach through practice, planning, and control. But anyone who has built something meaningful, whether it’s a business, a novel, a child’s trust, or a 10K personal best, knows it doesn’t work that way. Mastery, like love, is a process that repeats itself. It certainly requires discipline, but also the willingness to let go.