This is What I am Thankful for in 2015

For me the year ends at Christmas, after being stuffed in food and red wine for two days while I go around showing off my newly offered clothes the year is done. From the 25th until the new years eve I get off the grid and don’t focus on work or in “doing”.

I am not a very reflective person by nature. I rarely stop and pat myself on the back for what I accomplished. I almost never take a few days off in a way to congratulate myself from whatever I checked from my mental list. What happens is that as soon as I end doing something, I will immediately pick another project and bust my ass off to make it happen.

And it is because of my frantic modus operandi that I purposefully decide to take 5 days to reflect and look back. The exercise that I practice is called VESPERS, I got it from my good friends and mentors Zan Perrion and Hans Comyn when I joined their men’s group, The Amorati. (If you are interested in knowing more email me).

Vespers is nothing more than to pause, look back on the day, week or year that passed and be aware of what you are thankful for.

Here I will share with you a great part of my year and for what I am thankful for:


I am thankful for Riga, Latvia and my first friend who got married


This was another wake up call that I am no longer a kid. The first friend that got married, holy fuck… a couple of weeks ago we were running at the school backyard chasing a ball and now he got married. That was incredible!

Being the lunatic that I am I got everybody on board of a plane to Riga to celebrate his bachelor life. We were there for 4 days. I don’t remember much, honestly. I got drunk Wednesday at dinner and it only stopped on Monday afternoon after sleeping for 10 hours. I didn’t have an hangover. Picture that… ahahaha

I am thankful for having being robbed

I already had learned that I could be happy without people I love, with giving everything away to accomplish a dream (got bankrupt, moved back to my parents house, etc), without traveling and without a cell phone.

I always say that I only need two things to live: my passport and my laptop. I got robbed and the guy got my Mac, my wallet and my house and car keys. I was left with barely nothing. For a couple of weeks I had to get back to my fat old laptop and write on Windows Vista, which was a pain in the ass. I still was able to finish work and get things going.

I believe that I can always learn from the worst that can happen. I no longer see any difference between what I do and what happens to me. I don’t blame the destiny, luck or God for whatever bad things can happen to me.

Turn shit into sugar and learn something from it. Always!

I am thankful for having my name on the cover of a book

I dreamt about that for 10 years. Enough said.

I am thankful for what I learned

As you know, I never studied as much as this year. From Alan Watts to Tim Ferriss, from Joseph Campbell and Jack Kerouac to Seth Godin and N. N. Taleb.

I am thankful for having focused on writing

If all my life I was defensive and anxious about my writing skills, this year it all vanished into smoke. I wrote consistently, at least, a thousand words per day. That makes around 365 thousand words. That’s 3 times more the amount of words that my book has. Right now I can value my writing and acknowledge my quality as a writer. (Still, 10 thousand hours is the goal.)

I am thankful for being invited to speak in schools and bookstores all through the country


Thinking about this makes me happy. I love to interact, talk and motivate people to follow their dreams. Whenever I talked about my great North American road trip I ended up overflowed with passion about living the dream. It is really cool to have kids inspired by your words and looking up to you.

I am thankful for having made it on a national magazine

I sent dozens of PR to journalists and none of them showed up, but I hustled my way and got Nuno Lobito, – a guy that was just in every single country in the world!! – to make the introduction of my book. This got some press there and I ended up having my name in print. It rocked!

I am thankful for being published on Vice and Thought Catalog

You already know this, but I am really proud of having my name is such great media sites.

I am thankful for Barcelona and my sister and her boyfriend there


It was the first time that I traveled with my little sister, her boyfriend ended up joining was which was super cool. It is always good to bond and travel with people that you love. (It was the first time that they stayed in a hostel, it was fun to see them all anxious and scared to end up with a bunch of drunken aussies in the dorm… there was nobody else)

I am thankful for my family

and that after another year we are still all together, everybody is healthy and having the same arguments about unimportant shit. No family is perfect, when I accepted that, my relationship with my parents and other relatives improved considerably.

I am thankful for Moscow

I never had Moscow on my list of “places to visit in 2015”, but when I had the chance to spend some days there, I couldn’t say no. The Russian capital was a surprise in itself, since I never thought that I would enjoy it so much. Not a backpacker friendly destination, but if you enjoy to loose yourself in a new city this is a great destination.

I am thankful for Thailand

Because it was almost perfect. I got cheap flights. Managed to find great deals in hostels and resorts. Met incredible people. Petted a tiger!!! Jumped out of a moving taxi, – that was scary. A lightning landed like a hundred meters away from where I was, – that was fucking scary, I jumped some 5 meters and crouched under a table in maybe… half a second. Was caught in the middle of a tropical storm while on a long tail boat. Had a fantastic 12 hour train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai for… 14$, first class, AC, reclining benches and 4 meals(!). Thailand is fucking cheap. Partied at the beach of Koh Phi Phi, the legendary party island. Thai people are incredibly generous, nice and egoless.

I am thankful for my dog, Sirius

Every year I like him more and more. I learn every single day with him about being present, happy and excited about now. He is the only true responsibility that I have and the only reason why I don’t turn into a permanent nomad. He is like my best friend, my son and my little brother combined in a furry baby bear that is always excited and happy.

I am thankful for every obstacle and opportunity that came my way

This past year it was all about acceptance. About what I do, about what other people do and accepting what happens to me. I quit the mentality that certain things things are good and some are bad, that some are welcome and others aren’t. This year I learn that every obstacle is in fact an opportunity and that crisis and hard times are a great chance to thrive and move faster.

If I used to go around obstacles and look for the easy way, right now I look ahead and if I don’t see an obstacle then I have to rethink that path. Whenever there is an obstacle that is my path, the bigger the better. (For further reading on this check Ryan Holiday’s book: The Obstacle is The Way.)