Name it.
Tame it.com
This is a home for one old, simple way of seeing hard times. Essays, true stories, events and small tools, with a book on the way.
Life has shown me all of it. Sadness with no clear cause. A body that let me down. Relationships that weren't what I hoped. Work that feels less certain as AI arrives. And the quiet question: is a roof and bread enough, or is it never enough?
For years I looked for tools. Not to escape hard times, but to stop making them bigger than they are.
The idea is simple.
Name it: what am I feeling right now?
Tame it: what is really happening, and what is one sensible next step?
Then act, instead of spiralling.
Journal
- Name the goal, tame the goal: writing a goal you can actually checkA wish becomes a goal when it has edges you can check: meaning what, what will be true by then, and a tiny first step.Read the essay →
- A small word list for naming what you feelA short list of feeling words, grouped so you can find a better name than "fine" when something is hard.Read the essay →
- The "Name it" sheet, walked throughA filled-in example of the free one-page Name it sheet, box by box, so you know what to write on a hard morning.Read the essay →
- Name it, tame it in three steps: a plain how-to for a hard feelingNotice it, name it, then tame it with one small step. A plain three-step how-to for a hard feeling on an ordinary morning.Read the essay →
- What "name it, tame it" is, and why it was never newName it, tame it is not a new idea. From Marcus Aurelius, Genesis and Rumi to Dewey and Wittgenstein: why naming a hard thing gives it edges.Read the essay →
- Laces Tied in the Age of AIWhat a seventeen-year-old in a labour camp taught me about losing my place in the world.Read the essay →
- The Eight Forms of Capital, RevisitedEight kinds of wealth we never counted, and which of them change when the ground shifts.Read the essay →
The book
The book · Coming in 2027
Name the F, Tame the F
A book about staying functional when life gets hard. I’m writing it now and sharing the journey here.