It’s been an interesting year so far. Overall, I can’t overtly complain: I find my work gratifying, and have been fortunate to take some great trips this year both internationally (Mexico City and Kuala Lumpur), as well as some off-roading and camping locally.

But there’s a thing. I’m calling it Midlife Malaise. It’s a feeling of loss, of slippage, of time and age progressing that forces you to reckon or confront the facts of your stage of life. Not a midlife crisis, but a deep, unexplainable or intangible set of emotions that leaves one in something akin to a catatonic state.

There’s no apparent goal, or readily available answer. Your journey to the present is marked by a series of events, both significant and mundane, that have shaped you to this very moment.

I have come to know that this feeling is constant, that change is constant, and that the search for understanding one’s self and both those around you and the environment we coexist in is ongoing.

Onwards.

Photo taken by my wife Jen Schuetz, during one of those genuine moments, unposed, and feeling full and unencumbered.