Travel Stories

Devotion is the most intelligent way to live. Devotion is the act of surrendering yourself to something. What do I mean by that? For the past 6 years I have digested many abstract, spiritual teachings. Little by little I have been getting better at making them palatable and more concrete to share to you. I will start this proof by contradiction. Devotion is a spectrum. On the "far left side" is devotion to yourself. This is sometimes called narcissism or selfishness. I think it is pretty clear to most people that is you walk this life only thinking about yourself you will be empty. If you only live for yourself you will come across as quite standoffish and unpleasant. If that is what you desire to be, go for it, but I think there are better ways. If you don't devote your life to yourself, what else can you devote it to? There are many answers which fall on this spectrum to varying degrees. You can devote yourself to your career, which I personally would advise against, to your dog, your family, your wife, your community, your special edition sports car. Depending on the target of your devotion, your psyche, emotions, intellect, and even physical health will be impacted. Further, if you devote yourself to something that is impermanent and out of your control, like a dog who will certainly die, or a career, which will certainly go one day, your devotion is fickle and not strong. You must find an object of devotion that is permanent. It all comes down to how you want to be in this life. If you devote yourself to career you could make a lot of money, but on the other hand you may lack in health and familial connection. So again the question is, how do you want to experience this life? When I think of how I want to be in this life, one word comes to mind, unbounded. Unbounded in love, unbounded in wealth, unbounded in health. I desire to be overflowing with all of these attributes and more. If you resonate with this great! If not that is okay too. Too many people limit themselves in a box, contained by fictions roadblocks in their mind. So how is this related to devotion? As I stated devotion is directly correlated to how you feel. Whatever target you set yourself on to be devoted to will in turn cause repercussions on your wealth, health, and spirit. Therefore if I desire to be unbounded and overflowing, what can I orient myself towards? What can I devote my life to to inch closer to these characteristics. There is only one answer. This I am certain of . No edge cases, no what ifs. It is clear. If you desire to be unbounded there is only one thing you can devote your life to. The creator, the infinite, God, Hashem. This is the only thing in the universe which is infinite. Therefore if you devote your life to the infinite love, intellect, it will cause reverberations in your human experience. Devotion is the most intelligent way to live. Why devote yourself to something finite, constricted, small, when you have access to the infinite?

I have been in Puerto Viejo for one week. I can honestly say this has been one of the greatest weeks of my life. I feel on fire here and think this is how I want to live my life. As I mentioned previously I am outside most of the day, moving my body, with good friends and healthy food. I really like the feel of a local, not crowded beach town. Everyone is down to earth. Community is a big part of where you live. Some places attract entrepreneurs, some hippies, you just have to find the place that fits well on the spectrum for you. I really liked the feel of Bali where there are really balanced people with businesses, workout hard, and are spiritual. I said something I never thought I would say last night. There was a disco happening in the lobby of my hostel and I just wasn't feeling it. I said to Kyle, man I just want to work! Work doesn't feel like work when you own your time, you own the creative direction, and you make your own money with skills. This is what I was shooting for from my re education from my world travels. While I was home I almost thought this life style was out of reach, and I am so grateful that I have gotten a taste of it. I really want to continue to grow what Kyle and I have. As of last post I can officially say we closed our first, and second deals! It is so rewarding having a business owner believe in you, your vision, and pay you to execute. It has given me the confidence to know I can make money on my own, online from anywhere. As I think about the future, lots of things come to mind. I love being in places where I can do outdoor activities, snowboarding, surfing, volleyball, working out outside. When you have the freedom to be anywhere in the world you really can paint your own canvas. I really enjoy the routine of waking up at 6AM with the sun and going to bed early. It means you have used your energy to the potential of the day. But when you think long term, where would I like to raise kids? I am pretty sure it is not in suburban America. Where can the place I raise my kids sculpt them into the most vibrant human beings? I think a place like Puerto Viejo could be cool, but maybe a little more structure and less hippie vibes is needed. I definitely like the great weather and activities part but need a community with aspirations. I just looked up in ChatGPT I am trying to think of places to live long term and raise kids. I am in Puerto Viejo and like the weather and nature and rustic vibes. However I do not like how hippie it is. If I was to raise kids somewhere I want a small, not crowded nature centric community with more ambitious people. Any ideas?

Wow I am so grateful. Being in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, I really feel like everything is coming together. I feel like my clarity of mind and health is on another level. I wake up at 7 AM, stay off my phone, and go straight to the beach to stretch and jump in the water. I am outside about 95% of the day, shoeless and shirtless, moving my body in the sun. Kyle and I work on our business. It is so amazing to build something you care about and that is your own, where your integrity and skills are on the line. It does not even feel like work. This is what I envisioned: being able to work on my own, make money on my own, and live in cool and inspiring places while moving my body and improving my health. This brings clarity of mind. I do not want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I have loved this taste of being a real digital nomad. I am not rushed to do anything or see sights. I have had three amazing days here just working, training, and eating healthy. That is all you really need. You need to give yourself the space to do it. Crowded American cities are just not for me. This vision of my life I was not sure existed: making money online for myself and working four to five hours a day on something I care about while also moving my body and being in cool places. Now I taste it and it seems so sweet. I need to stay focused on the path to continue to explore this amazing lifestyle I have the potential to curate. I may have exciting news to share soon regarding my business endeavors.

Tomorrow I leave on a one-way trip to Costa Rica. I’ve been home for about two and a half months since returning from my ten-month backpacking adventure. The goal of that trip was a second education—to reengineer life from the ground up, to be open and learn, to just exist and flow. Now that I’ve settled back, the real adventure begins. How do I make money? Where do I live? How do I orient my intellect? Since being home, I’ve gone through a swirl of emotions. At first, I was searching for jobs, trying to get back into a routine and reignite my intellectual energy. But as I scrolled through roles on LinkedIn, I felt this deep fear that I was slipping back into the lifestyle I had worked so hard to escape—working at a company, with no passion, no purpose. I tried to disguise it by saying, “Oh, it’ll be in a better city, like San Diego,” or “It’s a startup, so it’ll be different.” But I couldn’t lie to myself for long. I want to build something of my own—to leave a real imprint on the world. Kyle and I have been working hard to figure this out. Even back when I was in Japan, we were tossing around ideas. We went from an AI search engine optimization tool, to a Facebook marketplace project, to even betting on prediction markets. The grind—the search—was brutal. At times, I felt more lost than ever, even more lost than when I was in rural Laos or the suburbs of China. But I’ve learned that you just have to keep searching, keep pointing your nose in the right direction, and trust your intuition. Now, we’ve decided to become consultants for small businesses—helping them integrate AI. To be honest, I think I know more about AI than 99.9% of people in the world—from the chips to the software to the application. If the last 2.5 months have taught me anything, it’s that ideas are worth nothing. Execution is everything. You can have a great idea—it’ll get you 90% of the way—but the last 10% is all that counts. Kyle and I are heading to Costa Rica together to put our heads down, work, and experience what it’s really like to live as digital nomads. We don’t plan to leave until we’ve sold something—until we’ve built a piece of software that someone is willing to pay for because it genuinely improves their life and work. That’s what it’s all about: improving the lives of others. The past two and a half months at home have been good. I’ve grown closer to my parents and appreciate our connection more than ever. But, as I knew before my first trip, I can’t stay still for long. It’s always onward and upward—constantly asking, how do I best ascend? In mind, body, spirit, and intellect. As I get ready to head into another country with my backpack on my back, I think of the person who did this a year ago. I’m proud of him—and proud of where I am now. This is the continuation of the journey—the natural next step. I’ll be back on my blog grind, back on the road, with next-level devotion, focus, and upward orientation.

A single human psyche is so complicated, yet so simple. When we look at friends, parents, or siblings, we tend to assume that what we see on the surface is everything. But most of the human experience is lived internally—so how could we ever truly understand someone else unless they show us their inner dialogue? This idea hit me while jogging with my dad. He was telling me a story about work. I usually only see him as my father, from the perspective of home and family, but seeing him through the lens of a doctor and coworker was fascinating. I realized that I only see a sliver of him—the “dad” role—but a huge part of his personality and psyche is tied to his profession and experiences in the OR, which I’ll never fully witness. He also mentioned to a neighbor that he bought his new house because it reminded him of the big yards in New Jersey. I had never considered that kind of depth and nuance in someone’s decision-making. Humans are such intricate combinations of past experiences, karma, and attachments—but we rarely get to see the full picture. Lately, I’ve been focused on trying to sell a useful piece of software to a customer. Kyle and I are inching closer, and I can feel it. We’ve learned so much, and it’s been awesome. I pray I can become an entrepreneur—make money on my own, help people with my skills, and live freely. That would be so much better than working for a company I don’t care about. I trained legs yesterday, and my hip impingement feels a lot better. Life is a paradox. Hashem is a paradox. Humans are paradoxes. And once you become comfortable within contradiction, you reach a new level of understanding. Anyone who says they understand anything is full of shit. I like to approach conversations with humility and just offer my silly human opinions when needed. Soon I’ll head to Costa Rica to fully immerse myself in what it would look like to be a digital-nomad entrepreneur. Less hippie backpacking—more grounded routine and focused energy. I made an Instagram reel of my time in Cambodia, and it made me reflect on that trip. How fucking badass and beautiful the whole experience was—so many incredible memories, feelings, and lessons. My mom told me she saw this hilarious video of the “Pensacola Bigfoot”—some guy supposedly dressed as Bigfoot going around Florida. When she showed me the clip, I realized it was AI-generated, probably by Sora. I told her that, but she didn’t believe me. She said, “No, it’s a guy dressed up going to UF and FSU!” I assured her it was AI-generated—I’ve seen all the clips, and I’m on the forefront of what’s possible with AI. She was speechless. She asked, “But how could it be at French’s or Shipwrecked?”—both local spots here. I explained the concept of prompting, but she didn’t quite grasp it. It really made me zoom out and realize how little most people understand about AI—what it is, what it can do, and how real it’s becoming. Why did she think a video that was so clearly AI-generated was real? Because she doesn’t know its capabilities—and because the AI was so good at capturing niche-specific reality, like local bars or beaches. I told her it wasn’t someone on a green screen, it was literally just a prompt. So many people have no idea what this technology has in store. I just want to stay on the right side of it—to help people make efficiency gains and optimize their work.