Brendan Neil

On my eldest son Baylin’s 18th birthday, we didn’t throw a party. There were no speeches. No candles. No nightclub. Instead, at sunrise, we stood on the Mapleton Range. Ahead of us was 100 kilometres of trail, hills, heat, fatigue, doubt and darkness. That was how Baylin wanted to mark his transition into adulthood. Not by numbing himself with alcohol or noise, but by facing something real. Something that demanded effort. Something that would strip him back and ask a simple question: Who are...

Every January we do the same thing. We stand at the edge of a new year, plant our flag in the sand, draw a bold line and declare—this year will be different. We announce new standards, new aspirations, new achievements. We give them a neat label and call them New Year’s Resolutions . Gym memberships spike. Journals get bought. Vision boards get posted. Promises are made—to ourselves, to the universe, and usually to social media. And then… by the second Friday of January —what psychologists...

1962-2026 Don’t Wait Until You Retire My mother gave us a piece of advice when we were young that never sounded particularly profound at the time: “Don’t wait until you retire to have fun.” At the time, it just seemed like one of those lines adults say in passing while they’re paying bills, mowing lawns, or packing school lunches. It wasn’t until much later that I understood the weight behind those words. Mum learned that advice the hard way. Her father—my grandfather—died in an accident just...