My alarm has made a decent living out of yelling at me at 8am throughout the week. It has long been my least favorite coworker yet also my most reliable one.

“Where are you really from?” “Your people make such fascinating food!” “How long did it take you to learn to speak English…

Of course I want to live. But I don’t just mean surviving long and well enough to live to see another day. I mean I want to live.

Why do we create bucket lists? It’s interesting how we jot down and continuously add to that bulleted list filled with things so seemingly impossible—so beyond reach…

This is Alderton’s own little treasure trove of recollections, identity crises, innermost thoughts, and lightbulb moments—the sad, celebratory, and everything in between.

Heti has essentially assembled these vulnerable, stream-of-consciousness-type thoughts into a larger commentary on our very state of being.