There’s a row of telephone poles I used to study as a kid after a skateboarding session. I was learning something I wouldn’t be able to articulate for thirty years: the world rewards attention. HiFi Living is what that finally looks like.

The graphic design gigs are fewer and farther between. The book isn’t published. I’m 53 and calling myself an author anyway. Living As-If isn’t about pretending. It’s about refusing to let your circumstances decide who you are.

I submitted. I waited. My name wasn’t on the list. Here’s what happened in the days after — and the one question that changes how you see every obstacle, detour, and door that doesn’t open.

During a guided meditation, I noticed something the instructions didn’t specify: the stairwell only went up one floor at a time. To keep climbing, I had to walk the entire length of each floor first.

Turns out I wasn’t doing it wrong. I was being shown how growth actually works.