Anthony
@ace-roll.bsky.social
Note-taker of the human condition.
Blending typewriter keys with inner keys.
I write articles & create visual essays from the margins.
🖋️ ace.roll on Medium
Blending typewriter keys with inner keys.
I write articles & create visual essays from the margins.
🖋️ ace.roll on Medium
A new ace.roll essay on emotional dysregulation.
How one sudden moment can overwhelm the nervous system, activate old wounds, and eventually guide us toward a deeper sense of self.
Read the full piece: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
How one sudden moment can overwhelm the nervous system, activate old wounds, and eventually guide us toward a deeper sense of self.
Read the full piece: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
When the Outside Breaks the Inside
How sudden shocks trigger old wounds, overwhelm our systems, and teach us how to return to ourselves
medium.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:55 PM
A new ace.roll essay on emotional dysregulation.
How one sudden moment can overwhelm the nervous system, activate old wounds, and eventually guide us toward a deeper sense of self.
Read the full piece: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
How one sudden moment can overwhelm the nervous system, activate old wounds, and eventually guide us toward a deeper sense of self.
Read the full piece: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
Screens show collapse.
Streets show connection.
My new ace.roll visual essay:
Through Screens or Through Streets — about perception, presence, and finding optimism in a noisy world.
Streets show connection.
My new ace.roll visual essay:
Through Screens or Through Streets — about perception, presence, and finding optimism in a noisy world.
December 6, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Screens show collapse.
Streets show connection.
My new ace.roll visual essay:
Through Screens or Through Streets — about perception, presence, and finding optimism in a noisy world.
Streets show connection.
My new ace.roll visual essay:
Through Screens or Through Streets — about perception, presence, and finding optimism in a noisy world.
Distraction scatters us.
Presence brings us back.
This new visual essay explores how we drift through our days — and how small practices can anchor us again.
Follow @ace.roll for more.
What helps you return to the present when your attention starts slipping?
Presence brings us back.
This new visual essay explores how we drift through our days — and how small practices can anchor us again.
Follow @ace.roll for more.
What helps you return to the present when your attention starts slipping?
December 4, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Distraction scatters us.
Presence brings us back.
This new visual essay explores how we drift through our days — and how small practices can anchor us again.
Follow @ace.roll for more.
What helps you return to the present when your attention starts slipping?
Presence brings us back.
This new visual essay explores how we drift through our days — and how small practices can anchor us again.
Follow @ace.roll for more.
What helps you return to the present when your attention starts slipping?
The ache of acceptance is real — the slow unwinding between what we hoped for and what we’re living now.
New essay: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
#selfhelp #writing
New essay: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
#selfhelp #writing
The Ache of Acceptance
Surrender as an Act of Courage
medium.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:26 AM
The ache of acceptance is real — the slow unwinding between what we hoped for and what we’re living now.
New essay: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
#selfhelp #writing
New essay: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
#selfhelp #writing
When everything familiar disappears, it’s tempting to see only ruin.
But sometimes, collapse is how life begins again.
🜂 When Life Breaks Apart →
medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
#Resilience
But sometimes, collapse is how life begins again.
🜂 When Life Breaks Apart →
medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
#Resilience
When Life Breaks Apart
How philosophy, spirituality, and science help us rebuild after everything falls apart.
medium.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:54 PM
When everything familiar disappears, it’s tempting to see only ruin.
But sometimes, collapse is how life begins again.
🜂 When Life Breaks Apart →
medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
#Resilience
But sometimes, collapse is how life begins again.
🜂 When Life Breaks Apart →
medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
#Resilience
When external storms overturn life, they stir old shadows inside.
But resilience is not avoiding storms—it’s walking through them without letting yesterday’s shadows dictate tomorrow’s light.
New ace.roll essay → External Storms, Internal Shadows
medium.com/@ace.roll/ex...
But resilience is not avoiding storms—it’s walking through them without letting yesterday’s shadows dictate tomorrow’s light.
New ace.roll essay → External Storms, Internal Shadows
medium.com/@ace.roll/ex...
External Storms, Internal Shadows
How negative circumstances awaken old trauma — and how we can meet them with resilience, presence, and care
medium.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:50 PM
When external storms overturn life, they stir old shadows inside.
But resilience is not avoiding storms—it’s walking through them without letting yesterday’s shadows dictate tomorrow’s light.
New ace.roll essay → External Storms, Internal Shadows
medium.com/@ace.roll/ex...
But resilience is not avoiding storms—it’s walking through them without letting yesterday’s shadows dictate tomorrow’s light.
New ace.roll essay → External Storms, Internal Shadows
medium.com/@ace.roll/ex...
Sometimes we don’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed, just partway.
Not despair, not disaster — but not steady either.
That’s when the small steps matter most.
What looks ordinary is actually resilience in motion.
✦ Read the full reflection: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
Not despair, not disaster — but not steady either.
That’s when the small steps matter most.
What looks ordinary is actually resilience in motion.
✦ Read the full reflection: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
The Discipline of Small Things
Mastering the little tasks as a path to resilience, proactivity, and becoming who we want to be
medium.com
September 19, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Sometimes we don’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed, just partway.
Not despair, not disaster — but not steady either.
That’s when the small steps matter most.
What looks ordinary is actually resilience in motion.
✦ Read the full reflection: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
Not despair, not disaster — but not steady either.
That’s when the small steps matter most.
What looks ordinary is actually resilience in motion.
✦ Read the full reflection: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
The more we consume headlines, the more despair feels inevitable.
The more we experience life firsthand, the more hope feels possible.
My new ace.roll essay explores why our inputs shape our worldview →
Through Screens or Through Streets
medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
The more we experience life firsthand, the more hope feels possible.
My new ace.roll essay explores why our inputs shape our worldview →
Through Screens or Through Streets
medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
Through Screens or Through Streets
Why our worldview shifts when we stop doomscrolling and start experiencing life firsthand
medium.com
September 17, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The more we consume headlines, the more despair feels inevitable.
The more we experience life firsthand, the more hope feels possible.
My new ace.roll essay explores why our inputs shape our worldview →
Through Screens or Through Streets
medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
The more we experience life firsthand, the more hope feels possible.
My new ace.roll essay explores why our inputs shape our worldview →
Through Screens or Through Streets
medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
Denial feels safe. But it keeps us in place.
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
New ace.roll visual essay — Clarity Before Change.
#Truth #PersonalGrowth #Clarity
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
New ace.roll visual essay — Clarity Before Change.
#Truth #PersonalGrowth #Clarity
September 16, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Denial feels safe. But it keeps us in place.
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
New ace.roll visual essay — Clarity Before Change.
#Truth #PersonalGrowth #Clarity
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
New ace.roll visual essay — Clarity Before Change.
#Truth #PersonalGrowth #Clarity
We’re pulled in a thousand directions every day — tabs, feeds, notifications, thoughts.
Presence doesn’t demand perfection. It asks for return.
medium.com/@ace.roll/an...
Presence doesn’t demand perfection. It asks for return.
medium.com/@ace.roll/an...
Anchored in Presence
Breaking free from endless distraction by returning to the present moment
medium.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:59 PM
We’re pulled in a thousand directions every day — tabs, feeds, notifications, thoughts.
Presence doesn’t demand perfection. It asks for return.
medium.com/@ace.roll/an...
Presence doesn’t demand perfection. It asks for return.
medium.com/@ace.roll/an...
“I’m tired.”
Sometimes that’s true.
Other times, it’s resistance in disguise.
Visual essay: The Thin Line Between Rest and Resistance.
🎞🕯☯️
Sometimes that’s true.
Other times, it’s resistance in disguise.
Visual essay: The Thin Line Between Rest and Resistance.
🎞🕯☯️
September 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
“I’m tired.”
Sometimes that’s true.
Other times, it’s resistance in disguise.
Visual essay: The Thin Line Between Rest and Resistance.
🎞🕯☯️
Sometimes that’s true.
Other times, it’s resistance in disguise.
Visual essay: The Thin Line Between Rest and Resistance.
🎞🕯☯️
Denial feels safe. But it’s resistance that deepens the wound.
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
✍🏻 New ace.roll essay:
medium.com/@ace.roll/cl...
#Wisdom #PersonalGrowth #Truth
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
✍🏻 New ace.roll essay:
medium.com/@ace.roll/cl...
#Wisdom #PersonalGrowth #Truth
Clarity Before Change
Acceptance grounds us in truth, freeing us to act with clarity and courage.
medium.com
September 1, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Denial feels safe. But it’s resistance that deepens the wound.
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
✍🏻 New ace.roll essay:
medium.com/@ace.roll/cl...
#Wisdom #PersonalGrowth #Truth
Acceptance isn’t the end of change.
It’s the beginning.
✍🏻 New ace.roll essay:
medium.com/@ace.roll/cl...
#Wisdom #PersonalGrowth #Truth
Even after the mind heals, the habits of survival can linger.
This visual essay is about the “ghost habits” we carry from difficult seasons, and the small, steady steps that help us rewire and return to life as it is now.
#Healing #MentalHealth #Resilience
This visual essay is about the “ghost habits” we carry from difficult seasons, and the small, steady steps that help us rewire and return to life as it is now.
#Healing #MentalHealth #Resilience
August 29, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Even after the mind heals, the habits of survival can linger.
This visual essay is about the “ghost habits” we carry from difficult seasons, and the small, steady steps that help us rewire and return to life as it is now.
#Healing #MentalHealth #Resilience
This visual essay is about the “ghost habits” we carry from difficult seasons, and the small, steady steps that help us rewire and return to life as it is now.
#Healing #MentalHealth #Resilience
How do we know when we truly need rest—and when we’re just resisting the work?
My new essay looks at the thin line between recovery and avoidance, with insights from philosophy and neuroscience.
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
My new essay looks at the thin line between recovery and avoidance, with insights from philosophy and neuroscience.
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
The Thin Line Between Rest and Resistance
How to tell when you truly need recovery — and when resistance is just holding you back
medium.com
August 26, 2025 at 7:15 PM
How do we know when we truly need rest—and when we’re just resisting the work?
My new essay looks at the thin line between recovery and avoidance, with insights from philosophy and neuroscience.
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
My new essay looks at the thin line between recovery and avoidance, with insights from philosophy and neuroscience.
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/th...
Not all progress is loud.
Sometimes growth loops.
Sometimes it whispers.
But it’s still growth.
🎞️ From the latest ace.roll visual essay
📖 medium.com/@ace.roll
#aceRoll #visualessay #mentalhealth #personaldevelopment
Sometimes growth loops.
Sometimes it whispers.
But it’s still growth.
🎞️ From the latest ace.roll visual essay
📖 medium.com/@ace.roll
#aceRoll #visualessay #mentalhealth #personaldevelopment
August 25, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Not all progress is loud.
Sometimes growth loops.
Sometimes it whispers.
But it’s still growth.
🎞️ From the latest ace.roll visual essay
📖 medium.com/@ace.roll
#aceRoll #visualessay #mentalhealth #personaldevelopment
Sometimes growth loops.
Sometimes it whispers.
But it’s still growth.
🎞️ From the latest ace.roll visual essay
📖 medium.com/@ace.roll
#aceRoll #visualessay #mentalhealth #personaldevelopment
Motivation is not the gatekeeper. Action is.
Neuroscience shows dopamine fires after we act, not before.
Philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience echo the same truth: move first, feel later.
Here’s my latest essay for ace.roll: medium.com/@ace.roll/mo...
Neuroscience shows dopamine fires after we act, not before.
Philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience echo the same truth: move first, feel later.
Here’s my latest essay for ace.roll: medium.com/@ace.roll/mo...
Motivation After Movement
We think motivation drives action. But neuroscience, philosophy, and human experience point to something far stranger: action comes first.
medium.com
August 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Motivation is not the gatekeeper. Action is.
Neuroscience shows dopamine fires after we act, not before.
Philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience echo the same truth: move first, feel later.
Here’s my latest essay for ace.roll: medium.com/@ace.roll/mo...
Neuroscience shows dopamine fires after we act, not before.
Philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience echo the same truth: move first, feel later.
Here’s my latest essay for ace.roll: medium.com/@ace.roll/mo...
☯️ Not Nothing
This one’s for the silent shifts.
The slow work.
The progress no one sees.
#aceroll #growth #selfreflection #neuroscience #healing #tolle
This one’s for the silent shifts.
The slow work.
The progress no one sees.
#aceroll #growth #selfreflection #neuroscience #healing #tolle
August 18, 2025 at 6:35 PM
☯️ Not Nothing
This one’s for the silent shifts.
The slow work.
The progress no one sees.
#aceroll #growth #selfreflection #neuroscience #healing #tolle
This one’s for the silent shifts.
The slow work.
The progress no one sees.
#aceroll #growth #selfreflection #neuroscience #healing #tolle
When depression ends, we expect life to feel different.
But sometimes the old habits stay — quiet routines built for survival that no longer match who we are.
This is about recognizing those patterns, rewiring them, and living fully in the present.
🕯️♾️☯️
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
But sometimes the old habits stay — quiet routines built for survival that no longer match who we are.
This is about recognizing those patterns, rewiring them, and living fully in the present.
🕯️♾️☯️
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
When the Mind Heals, But the Habits Stay
Even when depression fades, the patterns it taught us can keep living in our routines — unless we learn to rewire them.
medium.com
August 15, 2025 at 5:58 PM
When depression ends, we expect life to feel different.
But sometimes the old habits stay — quiet routines built for survival that no longer match who we are.
This is about recognizing those patterns, rewiring them, and living fully in the present.
🕯️♾️☯️
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
But sometimes the old habits stay — quiet routines built for survival that no longer match who we are.
This is about recognizing those patterns, rewiring them, and living fully in the present.
🕯️♾️☯️
Read here: medium.com/@ace.roll/wh...
💯 Just published my 100th ace.roll essay: A Hundred Times Through.
It’s a reflection on the spiral nature of growth — how we don’t move in circles, but in loops that take us deeper each time we return.
Read here → medium.com/@ace.roll/a-...
#aceRoll #100thPost #WritingLife #SelfReflection
It’s a reflection on the spiral nature of growth — how we don’t move in circles, but in loops that take us deeper each time we return.
Read here → medium.com/@ace.roll/a-...
#aceRoll #100thPost #WritingLife #SelfReflection
A Hundred Times Through
Repetition, patience, and the quiet work of becoming who we already are.
medium.com
August 8, 2025 at 9:46 PM
💯 Just published my 100th ace.roll essay: A Hundred Times Through.
It’s a reflection on the spiral nature of growth — how we don’t move in circles, but in loops that take us deeper each time we return.
Read here → medium.com/@ace.roll/a-...
#aceRoll #100thPost #WritingLife #SelfReflection
It’s a reflection on the spiral nature of growth — how we don’t move in circles, but in loops that take us deeper each time we return.
Read here → medium.com/@ace.roll/a-...
#aceRoll #100thPost #WritingLife #SelfReflection
A few soft blooms from a recent walk through downtown Davenport.
Not everything has to be profound. Sometimes it’s just peaceful.
🌸🌿🪻
Follow ace.roll for more small moments + quiet reflections.
Not everything has to be profound. Sometimes it’s just peaceful.
🌸🌿🪻
Follow ace.roll for more small moments + quiet reflections.
August 6, 2025 at 8:19 PM
A few soft blooms from a recent walk through downtown Davenport.
Not everything has to be profound. Sometimes it’s just peaceful.
🌸🌿🪻
Follow ace.roll for more small moments + quiet reflections.
Not everything has to be profound. Sometimes it’s just peaceful.
🌸🌿🪻
Follow ace.roll for more small moments + quiet reflections.
Overthinking is often fear in disguise.
A forecast factory that never turns off.
New ace.roll visual essay: The Forecast Factory
Slow the storm. Reclaim your peace.
A forecast factory that never turns off.
New ace.roll visual essay: The Forecast Factory
Slow the storm. Reclaim your peace.
August 1, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Overthinking is often fear in disguise.
A forecast factory that never turns off.
New ace.roll visual essay: The Forecast Factory
Slow the storm. Reclaim your peace.
A forecast factory that never turns off.
New ace.roll visual essay: The Forecast Factory
Slow the storm. Reclaim your peace.
🌀 New visual essay
→ When the path loops back
→ It’s not regression
→ It’s recognition
Sometimes the loop is the lesson.
Sometimes the spiral is the path forward.
📖 Inspired by a piece I wrote earlier this year: “When the Path Loops Back” on Medium
#selfgrowth #ace_roll #personaldevelopment
→ When the path loops back
→ It’s not regression
→ It’s recognition
Sometimes the loop is the lesson.
Sometimes the spiral is the path forward.
📖 Inspired by a piece I wrote earlier this year: “When the Path Loops Back” on Medium
#selfgrowth #ace_roll #personaldevelopment
July 29, 2025 at 3:26 AM
🌀 New visual essay
→ When the path loops back
→ It’s not regression
→ It’s recognition
Sometimes the loop is the lesson.
Sometimes the spiral is the path forward.
📖 Inspired by a piece I wrote earlier this year: “When the Path Loops Back” on Medium
#selfgrowth #ace_roll #personaldevelopment
→ When the path loops back
→ It’s not regression
→ It’s recognition
Sometimes the loop is the lesson.
Sometimes the spiral is the path forward.
📖 Inspired by a piece I wrote earlier this year: “When the Path Loops Back” on Medium
#selfgrowth #ace_roll #personaldevelopment
What if staying steady was the bravest thing we could do?
A new ace.roll essay on change without chaos, discipline without pressure, and growth without needing to prove it.
Read here ➡️ medium.com/@ace.roll/st...
#philosophy #mentalhealth #neuroscience
A new ace.roll essay on change without chaos, discipline without pressure, and growth without needing to prove it.
Read here ➡️ medium.com/@ace.roll/st...
#philosophy #mentalhealth #neuroscience
Steady Doesn’t Mean Stagnant
We don’t always need a breakthrough to make progress. Sometimes growth is what happens when we keep showing up.
medium.com
July 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
What if staying steady was the bravest thing we could do?
A new ace.roll essay on change without chaos, discipline without pressure, and growth without needing to prove it.
Read here ➡️ medium.com/@ace.roll/st...
#philosophy #mentalhealth #neuroscience
A new ace.roll essay on change without chaos, discipline without pressure, and growth without needing to prove it.
Read here ➡️ medium.com/@ace.roll/st...
#philosophy #mentalhealth #neuroscience