Popular Life Stories

Inspiring stories from individuals who have overcome challenges and created distinctive lives for themselves
A sunlit forest trail with a person walking on a rocky path surrounded by tall trees.
MEMOIR
1

Peak solitude

My three decades alone, basking in the company of a mountain

by Susanne Sener

Two people on a train reading Metro newspapers with headlines about royalty and sports transfers.
LOVE

Adventures of an agony uncle

What I’ve learned from 10 years of sifting through other people’s problems

by James McConnachie

A film still of a man in a black suit airborne above a white staircase under bright stage lights against a dark background.
DANCE

How the acrobat and choreographer Yoann Bourgeois plays with gravity and time

Directed by Raphael Wertheimer

Painting of settlers in covered wagons crossing a grassy landscape with mountains in the background and people on horses nearby.
IDENTITY

Ancestor trouble

What happens when you discover a family legend is untrue?

by Patricia Olsen

Photo of a woman submerged to the neck in a natural hot spring, with mountains and mist in the background, creating a serene atmospheric scene.
PHOTOGRAPHY

One photo per day for more than a year, exploring how rituals affect memory

Directed by Scott Thrift

Photo of a woman’s face reflected in a glass window with soft, abstract focus and greenish tones.
THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS

More than survival

I suffered from PTSD for 10 years without knowing it. Psychodynamic therapy set me free

by Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Long-exposure photo of a road at night with blurry, colourful light trails from car headlights and taillights against a dark background.
THE SELF

Self out of joint

Sudden amnesia untethered me from my past. Was I the same person or had I become someone else?

by Steven Hales

Close-up of an older man in a flat cap and scarf, looking out over a misty rural landscape with blurred farmland in the background.
POETRY

Irish hills, folk music and David Whyte’s poetry form a fleeting, meditative moment

Directed by Andrew Hinton

A night scene with a warmly lit cabin in the woods. An elderly person is inside, visible through large glass windows.
ARCHITECTURE

From modernist architect, to a life off-grid, a creative life well-lived

Directed by Ryan Malloy

Close-up of a person’s hands using a smartphone at night, with blurred city lights in the background.
SELF-HARM AND SUICIDE

Into the unknown, together

Six months into working a suicide helpline, I became a better conversationalist — and friend

by Natalia Dashan

Abstract watercolour painting of figures walking in different directions on a white background.
PLAY

An Oscar-nominated animation that celebrates walking with humans

Directed by Ryan Larkin

Close-up of a colourful, abstract wool sculpture resembling a face with various textures and fibres extending outward.
LOVE

Making love strange to imagine it anew – a startling, award-winning animation

Directed by Anushka Naanayakkara

Charcoal sketch of a person with curly hair sitting in profile, gazing upwards.
THE SELF

Losing her, losing myself

My mother’s dementia ruptured her sense of self. Why did it also shake mine?

by Noga Arikha

Photo of a cyclist casting dramatic shadows on sunlit pavement, with warm light flares creating a dreamy effect.
PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION

Foggy bottom

Benzos probably saved my life. But I also don’t remember much of it

by Alex Smith

Illustration of person climbing through a window which takes the place of one square in a giant period table, through the window is a city scene.
HOME

Lab at the edge of the world

When my daughter was bullied, I decided to homeschool her. A chain reaction ensued

by Lea Page

A sailboat on a calm lake at dusk with snow-capped mountains in the background under a cloudy sky.
MEANING AND THE GOOD LIFE

A boatbuilder above the Arctic Circle works hard at his epicurean life

Directed by Vern Cummins & Jamie Gallant