How I Stopped Doomscrolling and Started Watching This. [Summer Read-Aloud]

Have you ever had a moment so small (a bird, of all things) crack open something so much bigger about how you're living your life?

This week's episode is part of my summer series where I'm reading personal essays straight from my Substack. This one's about a very ornery bird I met on a hike in Patagonia, the bird I accidentally trapped in my bedroom when I was 10 (yes, really), and how a string of small, strange bird encounters slowly nudged me toward paying more attention to the world right in front of me.

If you've been feeling stuck in your phone, disconnected from your neighborhood, or like you're moving through life without really noticing it, this one's for you. It's not really about birds. It's about presence.

In this episode, you'll hear…

• The story of the bird who followed me on a brutal hike through the Andean Mountains and seemed to be personally attacking my confidence
• What happened when I accidentally let a bird into my childhood bedroom (and what I found six months later)
• Why standing somewhere as vast as Patagonia has a way of putting your entire life in perspective
• How coming home to Long Island turned into an unexpected obsession with birdwatching
• What robins, swans, and bald eagles taught me about noticing the seasons changing, even when I couldn't feel it yet
• Why paying attention to the small, local, unglamorous things is what's actually helped me feel rooted and connected, more than anything online ever has

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

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