Choice Is the Compass

Recently, I listened to the Decision-Making episode of the Design Better Podcast.

It featured Sheena Iyengar, whose work on decision-making has fascinated me for years.

She’s the author of two powerful books:

• The Art of Choosing 
• Think Bigger: How to Innovate.

One line from her stayed with me:
“Choice is the only tool we have that enables us to go from who we are today to who we want to be tomorrow.

The only tool for finding the best that exists.”

That sentence struck me. It makes me wonder -
Is this how the 30s are supposed to feel?

Do they come with that sudden sense of wisdom, like realizing you’ve been swimming in the right direction all along?
Is this abundance - happiness, satisfaction, confidence - something everyone feels at this milestone?

It’s not an overnight shift. The clock doesn’t strike midnight and transform you.

But slowly, with the turning of this age chapter, a new era unfolds.

Who the fuck ever said the 20s were the best years?

Sure, your body is in its prime. No aches, no brutal hangovers, you can run on no sleep.
But mentally, emotionally, psychologically - the 20s are chaos.
A storm you just keep trying to survive.

I remember Adele once saying in an interview: the only advice she had for people in their 20s was simple- just keep swimming, just keep swimming, it gets better, I promise.

She was right.
I kept swimming.
I made it to the other side.

Now I write this surrounded by clouds.

I’m on my way to Copenhagen again - this time for a month and a half, to finish the second half of my internship.
I’m sick, heavy-lunged, nose blocked, feverish from a cold I caught despite Italy gifting me three weeks of sunlight and warmth.

I just came back from a backwards tour of the classics.

Normally I do Milano → Bologna → Firenze → Roma.

This time, I started in Roma and worked my way back up.

It was beautiful. Sunny days without the suffocating July heat.
The food - needless to mention.
The culture, the language - always intoxicating.

And yet, here I am. Feverish, packed, dragging myself through the airport.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back in the office. Dinner with the bosses after work - we’re welcoming a new colleague.

Saturday, I begin my recovery ritual: a long, deep sleep. Morning yoga. A salon visit. And in the evening,

I’m taking myself to the Opera - Swan Lake (Svanesøen).

The tempo ahead will be intense.

I’m entering my research phase, reaching out to institutions in Copenhagen and Milano, scheduling meetings, sharpening my thesis question: how do we design for neurodiversity?

Or as someone recently said - neurospicy.
I like that word.

The past months have been wild from every possible angle.

This month will be different - financially stable, rooted in desk work, computer, and sleep.

And even though it’s a lot..
I feel calm.
Mature.

I know what I’m doing.

I got this.