Topic of the Day • Thursday, August 20, 2026

What’s something you’ve gotten really good at that younger-you would have never expected?

Today’s answer took a little detour.

I think smoking my one-hitter instantly improves my mind.

There. I said it.

I don’t smoke half of anything. I’m not a half-measures kind of guy. If I’m going to smoke my one-hitter, I’m smoking the whole thing.

And yes, spellcheck tried its damnedest to turn my one-hitter into a theater.

Apparently, my phone thought I was headed to Broadway.

Nope.

One-hitter.

The interesting part isn’t really the spellcheck battle, though. It’s what happens after I smoke.

My mind seems to settle down. The gears start turning a little differently. I can look at something I’ve been thinking about and sometimes see it from another angle.

Maybe it’s the cannabis.

Maybe it’s the ritual of stopping what I’m doing for a few minutes.

Maybe it’s both.

I’ve been using cannabis long enough to know that, for me, it has become part of my daily routine. It’s one of those things I recognize as having an effect on how I experience the day.

And sometimes that effect is exactly what I’m looking for.

I’m not claiming it fixes everything.

It doesn’t.

But when I say it improves my mind, I mean that sometimes it helps me get into a headspace where I can think, reflect, write, or simply enjoy where I am.

That’s probably why today’s topic ended up being more interesting than I expected.

What’s something you’ve gotten really good at that younger-you would have never expected?

I never would have guessed that one day I’d spend part of my life paying this much attention to how my own mind works.

The brain injury and stroke changed that relationship for me.

I notice changes.

I notice what helps.

I notice what doesn’t.

And I’m still curious about why.

Maybe that’s the real answer to today’s question.

I’ve gotten pretty good at paying attention to myself.

Not perfectly.

Not every day.

But enough to notice when something makes a difference.

And apparently enough to spend an entire journal entry defending the proper spelling of one-hitter.

Some days the important discoveries are profound.

Other days, they’re just spelled correctly.

One-hitter.

Case closed.