A Beginning of Sorts

For the longest time, I thought if I were ever to tell my story, I would have to start at the beginning.

Where I was born. How I grew up. The decisions I made. The places I travelled. The people I met.

It seemed like the logical way to make sense of a life.

The older I’ve become, the more I’ve realised that isn’t how we remember our lives at all.

We remember them through questions.

When did I become so afraid of getting things wrong?

When did I stop trusting people so easily?

Why did I spend years travelling the world with no real plan other than to see what was possible?

What does home really mean?

How much of the person I am today was built by choice, and how much was built by survival?

The answers aren’t found in one moment. They’re scattered across years. In conversations I still think about. In cities that changed me. In relationships that quietly rewrote how I saw the world. In decisions that made perfect sense at the time and only revealed their meaning much later.

Somewhere along the way, I lived out of a backpack. I built a career I never imagined I’d have. I found a partner who became my home. I also lost parts of myself that I’m still trying to understand.

Those stories now live in old photographs, Instagram posts with sepia filters, and whatever memories time has allowed me to keep.

I used to have a Facebook page that documented almost every step of my travels. Every country, every detour, every little moment I thought I’d never forget.

Years later, it was hacked, and I lost it all.

I’m turning 39 in a couple of weeks.

It feels like the right time to look back.

Not at a timeline of milestones, but at the moments that quietly shaped who I became.

Some were ordinary.

Some changed everything.

Many only revealed their meaning years later.

Over the next year, I want to see how much of that life I can remember.

Maybe, in the process of remembering who I was, I’ll better understand who I’ve become.

Or maybe I’ll find a way to reclaim the parts of myself I thought I’d lost along the way.

If you already know me, welcome back.

If we haven’t met before, my name is Jared.

I’m glad you’re here.