One of my favorite YouTubers is Casey Neistat, he is one of my heroes when it comes to creativity. I have been mildly obsessed with his work lately, and I have been studying his vlogs and watching recordings of his talks to try and learn what makes him great. One thing I learned is that audacity plays a large role in how he does what he does and he shares who he is with the world.

In a world in desperate need of hope, are we waiting to elect the right person to play the role of savior? Are we hoping that our favorite content creators are going to start a movement that will change our world? Or are we doing what we can to make our own little corner of the world a little bit better? These are the things that are running around in my head lately. I have realized that while I claim to care about community, I am not a part of it. I am realizing that if I want the world to be a better place, I need to quit looking at what other people are doing and focus on what I can do to be of service to those around me.

Let’s pour a cup of tea (or coffee) and talk. I was looking at the TikTok questions, and thought, this would be a great activity to do with a friend, to get to know them better. So I thought that we could do this today, let’s imagine that we are enjoying a cup of tea or coffee together and give you a chance to get to know me better.

This week I wanted to talk about my new weekend rest routine, and how I set aside time on Sunday to get ready for the next week.

So in case you didn’t know, I am attempting to write a novel, which is progressing at a glacial case. The story is about Franklin, an autistic young man who, in an attempt to make the world a better place becomes a hero, though many will see him as a villain. Today I wanted to share a reading from this work in progress, I hope you like it.

T.W.: Reference to suicide and drug overdoses. A friend once asked me why we often assume the worst in life. I talk about what I believe are some historic reasons for fear, as well as some modern day problems that cause us to believe the worst. For the sake of time I do not cover every reason for fear or concern. Grab a cup of tea and join me as I ramble about this topic.

Today I wanted to revisit the subject of unmasking by going over an episode that I posted last July. I talk about the movie Luca, and reflect on how it made me think about my own journey and the masks I am tempted to wear as an autistic adult living with a chronic illness. I talk about why I sometimes choose to mask, and why I am trying to mask less as time goes on.

Today I am taking a moment to reflect on the past year by going through an After Action Review. Birthdays are a great time to reflect on your life’s progress. Join me as I walk through this.

In this episode I am building on my thoughts around GPS devices and how I teach/ parent. I originally talked about this in a TikTok post, and wanted to add more thoughts to it and reflect on the different responses I received.

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose? What if you had the power to make people feel seen and heard? That is the inspiration for a story I am working on. While it is a rough draft, I hope that you enjoy it. Thank you to my Patreon supporters for sponsoring this episode, if you want to help support my podcast, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter at patreon.com/mr_maxwell16