“A quiet stretch of sand just minutes from the heart of Copenhagen, Amager Strand feels like a small escape from the city. On a clear day, the Baltic breeze, cyclists rolling past, and the skyline in the distance make it the perfect place to slow down and soak in Danish summer.”
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Amager Beachpark (Strand), Denmark
“As much as you want to go through life with a constant routine, when you instead establish new habits, hobbies, and places to visit, it’s best to mix it up and do what you can to make the most out of this one life you have.”
Turbulent times have a way of stripping life down to its essentials. It can make you appreciate what you have in life more and not take what you have for granted. When the headlines are gripping and uncertainty lingers each day, you realize how fragile our routines and habits really are. While it’s tempting to go through the motions and drift through our days on autopilot, by going to the same coffee house, driving the same commute, having the same conversations and making the same excuses, you should be taking off the autopilot instead and homing in more on what makes life enjoyable. As much as you want to go through life with a constant routine, when you instead establish new habits, hobbies, and places to visit, it’s best to mix it up and do what you can to make the most out of this one life you have.
I’ve caught myself sleepwalking before in my life. Not physically, but mentally. Waking up, checking my phone, answering emails, going through meetings, making the usual commute, working out at the same gym, eating dinner, scrolling, and sleeping. Productive on paper but not really waking up my senses to the full extent. This kind of routine can sap your spirit over time. It wasn’t that anything was wrong, but it can get boring after a while. That was the problem for me and for many others I suspect. There’s nothing wrong with what I was doing, and I still have my routine that I enjoy. However, nothing in my life was expanding either or challenging me enough. My life was efficient and that efficiency was quietly numbing me.
The truth is that living life on autopilot feels responsible, especially in adulthood. It feels mature and what is expected of us at a certain age. Routine keeps the bills paid and the calendar organized. Routine, when left unchecked, becomes a cage you build yourself and can be suffocating after a while. The brain loves predictability as it conserves its energy. Routine avoids discomfort and novelty unless you force yourself to be different and try new things. True growth doesn’t happen in conservation mode or by playing it safe. Growth demands friction and friction requires intention, which means making the effort to break the routine you impose on yourself.
For myself, it’s always been travel that has exposed the lie of living life on autopilot almost instantly, especially from my solo travels. It’s hard to drift through life when you can’t read the street signs, when you’re ordering food in broken Spanish, Turkish, or German, when you don’t fully understand the cultural cues or conversations around you. You’re alert, present, and living in the moment. The precious moments where you’re slightly uncomfortable but also feeling fully alive are the best for me. I live for those moments every chance I get to experience them even when they’re harder to come by as I get older. The colors and smells you sense feel sharper. Conversations feel deeper and livelier. Time stretches rather than drags me down. It’s not about how each country is magical but rather that you are fully awake and experiencing life more fully.
Waking up and taking yourself off autopilot isn’t dramatic, but it should be a deliberate effort. It’s choosing an unfamiliar conversation instead of a safe one. It’s taking a different route home. It’s signing up for something new you might be bad at but want to try anyway to see how it goes. It’s reading different books and engaging people who may not share the beliefs or views as you. It’s learning twenty new words in a language you don’t “need” but desire to learn to expand your horizons. It’s asking yourself, honestly, “When was the last time I felt truly engaged?”
You don’t need to burn your life down and leave your responsibilities behind, which is a false choice. You need to interrupt it and bring something into your life to make it more enjoyable.
Turbulent times are unsettling and especially at this moment we’re living in around the world. At the same time, they’re clarifying what really should matter to you. They remind you that stability and prosperity are never guaranteed. Political systems shift. Jobs will change. Borders can close. Health falters. Family and friendship ties fade. When you accept that inherent fragility to life, you stop assuming you have endless tomorrows to play around with. When tomorrow isn’t promised, living your life on autopilot becomes a risk you can’t afford to take.
You get one life. No rehearsal. No dress rehearsal. No backup plan for the 2nd one. The world is unpredictable enough so don’t make your inner world predictable too. Refuse to sleepwalk through the years as they go by faster. Shake up your routines. Question your assumptions, values, and beliefs. Chase what unsettles you in a healthy way. Stay curious about the world and the people in it. Stay moving as much as possible. Because the greatest tragedy in life isn’t the inevitable turbulence that will come your way. It’s the numbness you’ll experience if you don’t choose to make this life the best it can be.
“Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark – a Renaissance masterpiece framed by water, silence, and centuries of Danish history.”
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Frederiksborg Slot (Castle), Hillerød, Denmark
Checking out different architectural styles and designs from different eras in Copenhagen’s history. In addition, exploring the Opera House, Nyhavn, and Frederik’s Church by foot and by boat during my stay in the Summer of 2024.
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
“This surreal experience of mine in the local coffee shop was seeing mostly everyone except for myself wrapped up exclusively in their device, mobile, computer, or another kind of technology rather than interacting with their immediate surroundings.”
Surreal moments often catch you off guard and recently, one hit me in a coffee shop that I like to frequent. These moments are important to reflect on for better or worse though, to see how society has changed immeasurably and perhaps permanently. This surreal experience of mine in the local coffee shop was seeing mostly everyone except for myself wrapped up exclusively in their device, mobile, computer, or another kind of technology rather than interacting with their immediate surroundings.
It was shocking, usually there are a few people browsing their phones casually, catching up on work with their laptops, or just tracking their health data on their digital watch. However, when I looked around and saw that it was basically a sea of screens as each person was locked into their digital world rather than focused on the people there. It was a dystopian scene that is burned into my memory now so much so that I had to explore this societal change further.
In the U.S. especially, it seems like cafes or coffee houses are more for interacting with the digital realm rather than the physical realm, which is quite different from Europe and Latin America where the priority is to meet people or gather with friends or family. It is usually a mix, but in the U.S., cafes seem to have reached a turning point. They focus more on having people be there to work and endure loud or constant music being played in the background, and having people isolated rather than connecting with one another.
While there are still numerous cafes where people are still likely to do poetry slams, play trivia, and are welcoming gathering spaces, my concern is with how eerie it can be when some cafes are solely about work and technology rather than connection and leisure. There are some solutions out there and some bars I’ve heard are even implementing ‘no phones’ as an entry rule to help people to interact with each other rather than their own devices in a shared space.
I personally hope that the ‘no phones’ movement can spread to cafes, community centers, and other third spaces that are increasingly difficult to find in the U.S., especially where you don’t need to pay to sit down, talk, or get to know one another. Having a ‘no technology’ rule for set hours in cafés seems like a great idea to me, especially before or after work hours and making sure that cafes and co-working spaces are not merging to be the same. Community events with no phones would help people sharpen their social skills, minimize distractions, and connect without any devices competing for their attention.
It was jarring for me to see almost the whole café on some sort of device or another except for myself (even though I do tend to check my phone quickly here and there). However, I was meeting someone there so I wanted my attention to be paid to them as much as possible and I am for a technology ban so the connection we would form would be that much easier. Having a rule of ‘no phones’ in cafes or at least ‘no tech’ hours would probably make people happier, more sociable, and allow cafes to sell more to people who would have their undivided attention.
We used to get our dopamine from our social connections and that has been increasingly replaced by responsive AI chatbots, persistent social media notifications, and algorithms focused on our every need. It’s a losing battle right now but we may be at a precipice where people including myself realize that this isn’t sustainable and it isn’t healthy for society to indulge in without limits, even for adults.
One of my favorite shows growing up was ‘Friends’ and ‘Seinfeld’, where the all-American diner or the local café was a spot to hang out, talk, play music, and catch up on each other’s lives. These shows from the 1990s-2000s could not possibly be replicated today because the scenes would be showing almost everyone on their phone or laptop and the dialogues would be flat or lackluster. I want cafés, diners, and bars to be more than background noise for our technological devices. Instead, these places should be spaces to connect, to share, and to find a moment of human interaction in a world increasingly dominated by screens.
Cafés, diners, and bars should be refuges from screens, spaces to connect, share, and find a moment of human interaction in a world dominated by devices. It’s time to reclaim these public places, not just for nostalgia, but for our social health. We still need public places to provide a respite from the hustle and bustle of daily life, to let us express ourselves freely, to meet new people, to practice community, and maybe even make some new friends.
My first visit to Copenhagen, Denmark in the Summer of 2024, which was a really cool experience to explore the city’s food halls, museums, castles, and modern architecture.
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
“Standing inside Parc des Princes during the 2024 Summer Olympics felt like being plugged directly into the heartbeat of world football. Spain vs. Uzbekistan wasn’t just a match, it was a collision of styles, chants, and raw Olympic energy bouncing off the old Parisian stands.”
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Parc des Princes – 2024 Summer Olympics, Spain vs. Uzbekistan; Paris, France
“My first visit to the Pantheon – one of France’s most cherished monuments and a mausoleum for some of their most cherished cultural and political figures. You can’t forget the famous Foucault’s Pendulum as well, a centerpiece of this Pantheon.”
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: The Pantheon; Paris, France
After nine years since my last trip to Paris, I returned in the Summer of 2024 to enjoy some sights like Musee d’Orsay but also for the Summer Olympics!
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France
One of the biggest vineyards in the Bourdeaux wine growing region of France: Chateau Soutard was a delightful winery to visit on a trip to France in the Summer of 2024.
Camera: iPhone 15
Location: Chateau Soutard; Saint-Émilion, Gironde, France
