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For those navigating leadership, human progress and sustainability, I offer honest stories and reflections that make sense of our world—stay for insights that resonate.

Essays, reflections, and tools for people who want to think clearly, live responsibly, and build something meaningful.

Dorian Hartwood

Writing is more than words—it’s about leaving a mark. I explore leadership, self‑growth, human progress and sustainability. My work is honest and relatable, sparking meaningful conversations. Whether I’m sharing personal journeys, unwrapping leadership insights or unpacking what it means to live sustainably, I’m here to tell stories that stick.

What I Do

I write and build at the intersection of leadership, sustainability, and human progress.

Through essays, personal narratives, and practical tools, I explore how people make sense of their inner lives while navigating work, responsibility, and a world that’s changing faster than we’re taught to handle.

My work is for readers who want more than surface-level insight — people who value clarity, honesty, and growth that’s grounded in real experience, not noise or performative optimism.

Featured / Most Read

Over the years, I’ve written pieces that have resonated with readers — gathering over 1,146+ Medium likes.

These are the essays people return to most often, sitting at the crossroads of mental health, creativity, leadership, and our relationship with the natural world.

If you’re new here, this is the best place to start.

Essay Roundup – Sign Up

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Featured Articles

An Injustice! •

3 A.M., One Burger, Four Kids: A Lesson in Mexican Love

The house in Tijuana was small enough that you could hear every sigh it made when the wind pressed against the walls. The year was 2008, though it could’ve been any year that asked too much of a family.

There were six of us: my parents, my brother, two sisters, and me. The U.S. recession had spilled over the border like dark water, pulling jobs under and making everything feel thinner — money, patience, sleep. My dad’s hours came and went like a bad signal. My mom, never one to wait on luck, took...
Medium •

We All Think We’re the Good Ones

I didn’t know I was in a war until the silence got loud.

It was a spring Sunday. Not cold, not warm — just that in-between weather where you wear a hoodie and regret it by noon. My dad and I were trimming the pomegranate tree in the backyard. The branches had gone wild over the winter, tangling into the fence like they were trying to escape.

We weren’t fighting. That’s what made it worse. It was the absence of ease — the way we tiptoed around topics, laughed a second too late, kept everything safe...
The Environment •

The $125 Trillion Wake-Up Call: Why Reconnecting with Nature Isn’t Just Nice, It’s Necessary

Two hours.

That’s how little time in nature researchers say it takes to measurably improve well-being — about two hours a week, according to recent large-scale studies on green space and health (APA 2020). But here we are — living inside a system that hands us at least $125 trillion worth of free natural services each year — and still we treat the planet like a disposable backdrop. That contradiction isn’t just philosophical, it’s costing us lives, ecosystems, and entire economies.

I didn’t fully...
The Silent Script •

Voicing the Darkness: The Healing Power of Letting It Out

It started in the car. I was driving through my neighborhood — same route, same stop signs, same song on the radio I always skip. But that day, I didn’t skip it. That day, I let it play. And that song cracked me open. One line in, I pulled over and wept like something inside me had finally collapsed. Not a Hollywood cry. A body-shaking, steering-wheel-thumping, full-bellied scream into the silence.

It was the first sound I’d made in weeks that wasn’t pretending I was fine.

And something happened...
The Silent Script •

5 Brutal Truths About Mental Health (And How Writing, Music, and Nature Saved My Ass)

I don’t know about you, but every time someone told me “it gets better,” I wanted to punch a wall. Better? What the hell does “better” even mean when you’re knee-deep in a sadness so heavy it feels like you’re carrying another human on your back? Or when you’re smiling at work while your insides feel like they’re bleeding out?

Mental health isn’t a fucking straight line. It’s not “sad” to “better” with a confetti cannon at the finish line. It’s more like walking through a damn minefield — some da...
Medium •

How One Walk Became My Way Back to Living

What do you do when even air feels heavy? I remember counting the squares on my ceiling just to keep from unraveling. The room was quiet. My head was not. Depression had turned time into wet cement—every move slow, sticky, exhausting. If you know that weight, you know it isn’t ordinary sadness. It’s a dull fog that erases the edges of everything.

I kept waiting for rest to save me. Sleep more. Do less. Cancel plans. Crawl back under. Rest has a rightful place—but for me...
An Injustice! •

3 A.M., One Burger, Four Kids: A Lesson in Mexican Love

The house in Tijuana was small enough that you could hear every sigh it made when the wind pressed against the walls. The year was 2008, though it could’ve been any year that asked too much of a family.

There were six of us: my parents, my brother, two sisters, and me. The U.S. recession had spilled over the border like dark water, pulling jobs under and making everything feel thinner — money, patience, sleep. My dad’s hours came and went like a bad signal. My mom, never one to wait on luck, took...
Medium •

We All Think We’re the Good Ones

I didn’t know I was in a war until the silence got loud.

It was a spring Sunday. Not cold, not warm — just that in-between weather where you wear a hoodie and regret it by noon. My dad and I were trimming the pomegranate tree in the backyard. The branches had gone wild over the winter, tangling into the fence like they were trying to escape.

We weren’t fighting. That’s what made it worse. It was the absence of ease — the way we tiptoed around topics, laughed a second too late, kept everything safe...
The Environment •

The $125 Trillion Wake-Up Call: Why Reconnecting with Nature Isn’t Just Nice, It’s Necessary

Two hours.

That’s how little time in nature researchers say it takes to measurably improve well-being — about two hours a week, according to recent large-scale studies on green space and health (APA 2020). But here we are — living inside a system that hands us at least $125 trillion worth of free natural services each year — and still we treat the planet like a disposable backdrop. That contradiction isn’t just philosophical, it’s costing us lives, ecosystems, and entire economies.

I didn’t fully...
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