Marcus Lopés

Author

Writing Life

A New Year. A ‘New’ Way of Being

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a'new' way of being

Towards the end of November 2023, and as the year began to wind down, something became crystal clear to me: I was wasting a lot of time. I was too often reaching for my phone. I tried to do things—write, organize my expenses, bake/cook, read—while surfing the internet or streaming a movie or show on Prime Video. These were bad habits that I knew would impact my ability to do deep work, yet it became harder and harder to stop them. That led to another realization: I needed a ‘new’ way of being. [Read more…] about A New Year. A ‘New’ Way of Being

A Pretty Palatable Year [in Review]

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opportunity

We have two weeks to go before we say goodbye to 2023. I was kind of bummed out when the year began. Doubt had crept in, and I expected it to be a year long on disappointments and short on accomplishments. As it turned out, 2023 was a pretty palatable year. Here are the highlights.  [Read more…] about A Pretty Palatable Year [in Review]

Make a Choice

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make a choice

As the end of 2023 approaches, we’re going to hear a lot of talk about how the year went. There will be reflections on the people who died and the impact they had on the world. We will relive the highlights of sports and world events. At a personal level, a lot of us will look back and determine if we succeeded at what we set out to do. For some, that will be a positive experience. For others…not so much. But no matter how the year went, one thing is clear: we all had a choice. [Read more…] about Make a Choice

Embrace the Suck

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embrace the suck

I am a morning person. For most of my adult life, I have not needed an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. When I was a flight attendant and had to be at the airport before the crack of dawn, I would set an alarm as a fail-safe. However, I would mentally remind myself what time I needed to get up before going to bed. And usually anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes before the alarm was set to go off, I would wake up. In my current role working late nights, I am still naturally waking up early. Now I am learning to embrace the suck. [Read more…] about Embrace the Suck

Embrace Reality

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embrace reality

A few weeks ago, I ordered and started reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, only to put it down. Not because it wasn’t interesting, but because another book1 I ordered had arrived and it stole my attention. Then last Monday as I travelled to Malton on the Kitchener Go Train, I picked up where I left off with Be Useful. And as often happens lately when I’m reading certain books, it felt like Schwarzenegger could read my mind and his words were directed right at me. I knew then that I had to embrace reality. [Read more…] about Embrace Reality

  1. Do Hard Things by Steve Magness [↩]