Rolling around

The first piece I ever wrote was called Enslavement and Deception by Smartphones, somewhere back in 2014. A bit after that, I decided that Facebook and Instagram were as far as I would go with social media, and that I wouldn’t take part in Stories — because, honestly, it’s just a feature designed to make you open the app more often so you don’t “miss out.”One of the reasons that pushed me to publish my first book was the feeling that social media wasn’t the right place for my stories, which might gather a few likes and then disappear into the feed after a few days. So, I stuck only with Facebook and Instagram, even deleting them from time to time to better connect with real life around me. I post Instagram Stories only occasionally, just to reach more people. And a book? Well, I just published my third short story collection! But after the writing, editing, and publishing process, another phase begins — bringing myself to the readers, in an era where people read a lot less and mostly scroll. So now I often promote my books on social media — and look, I even launched a website!

Honestly, reading just a few stories could give you a very close look, maybe a little closer than I intended. I wanted authenticity. I think. Here, in a small way, I’ll share my wanderings since finishing my army service as the first truck driver from Maccabim-Re'ut.

Selling cosmetics? Almost. Instead, I went on a festival season in Europe where, for part of it, I sold rolled Mallawachs, which is a Yemeni-Israeli puff pastry delicacy with a lot of margarine, and joined an Italian shop and vegan pirates too. I came back to Israel to enjoy life in Tel Aviv. After my sister’s wedding, I was free to leave again — this time for an unplanned half-year (plus) in Koh Tao, continuing to work as a dive instructor on the island, in Tasmania, and at the world’s largest reef. Nomadic travel with a car that held everything I needed, sometimes embracing the time on my own, and sometimes making deep or funny connections with people I met along the way.Hitchhiking through New Zealand, as if with nothing, only to discover you actually have everything.Searching for a path led to a ski season in St. Anton, which ended with COVID and a relationship that eventually brought me to Austria and into studying Sustainability and Energy. In my first semester, though, things got quite dark, leaving me stuck with a degree program in German. But hey, eventually, I wasn’t really stuck, and it seems I chose well. I studied, met all kinds of people and friends in all kinds of situations — not just classic travel friendships — and figured out who and how I want to build relationships with. I learned to be alone, but not lonely . To be a stranger and still feel at home. More than anything, I learned to listen to myself, to see how strong I am, and to realize what I’m capable of.I also realized that things aren’t always as hard and complicated as we make them, because if we want, almost anything is possible. Almost — and that’s okay, too.

From these stories, you can take smiles and silliness, bits of insight, simplicity in encounters, and wonder at the world, at the little things, and the situations we create. Or maybe just kill some time while waiting in line at the dentist’s office. Either way, life goes on.