So have you ever felt like you just needed to kind of leave the life that you've been living

in order to create a clean slate that you need to live the life you yearn for?

And maybe to be able to shed the old stifled you and reinvent yourself or more accurately

reclaim the version of you that's been kind of hiding inside for years.

That is exactly what my guest today did.

Craig Modd grew up in a working class town in New England, but something inside drew him across the

world to Japan at just 19 years old, speaking very little of the language. He wanted to, in his words,

erase his old self and start fresh where nobody knew him or his story or his history.

With no real plan and barely any language skills, he immersed himself in art and music and writing and eventually publishing and bookmaking.

And also along the way, he started these long walking pilgrimages like 30, 45, 60 days that remade him from the inside out.

And Craig eventually landed in what he describes as a six mat tat tatami room in Tokyo,

which is like six yoga mats large, embracing a pretty minimalist lifestyle to maximize

creative and financial independence. And that really set the state for a breathtaking

career as an author and artist, artisanal bookmaker and adventurer. And it's all supported by

this global community of thousands of patrons now, who follow along with his journeys and line

up to scoop up his books, selling out limited editions within hours of publication.

In his latest book, the critically acclaimed, things become other things,

Craig weaves this unlikely journey into an intimate letter to a childhood friend

while sharing insights from a recent extended walk.

Along the way, he also shares some pretty mind-expanding realizations, like

how choosing fullness over distraction is the path to living each day without regret, or

by tuning out, quote, tight feedback loops, allows him to go deeper into life's riches experiences,

...