Dr Marcus Anthony

01/08/2026

A book (or a thesis, or a paper), as the saying goes, is abandoned rather than finished.

27/07/2026

Funny thing happens when you start reading foreign newspapers: your whole grip on reality shifts. You stop absorbing the local narrative on autopilot. There’s a nerdy term for it (anti-mimetic), but it really just means you stop mirroring the herd. Highly recommend.

22/07/2026

16/07/2026

I use AI for several hours every day, and whilst it has been fantastic, I recently realised something alarming: I was using it knowing that it was dumbing down my brain. I found myself waiting for AI to correct me, improve my writing, and even dictate my opinions.

16/07/2026

I use AI a lot. But, I know it's ruining my thinking power. When I write by myself, using a real pen and paper, I think far more deeply. Yes, it takes time, and modern society seems to discourage us from doing things slowly, but, what will be the real cost of A1 to YOU and your future?

13/07/2026

The Civil War Within: Mediating the Mind's Own Divide
Why years in global conflict zones couldn't prepare me for the hardest negotiation of all.

I had coffee with a man who had murdered more than ten people.

I went for a walk with a man who had been given multiple life sentences.

If you had asked me at the time, I would have said I was navigating highly dangerous territory. For three decades, I operated as an independent witness in some of the most volatile conflict zones on earth—from the fractured streets of Northern Ireland to Kosovo and Colombia. My role was to sit in rooms where the hostility was palpable, to bear witness, and to help deeply divided people find a way to establish a baseline of safety. We relied on carefully curated language to navigate the space without triggering an explosion.

But looking back, the biggest danger to me wasn’t the men across the table. It was the civil war going on inside my own head.

I was fluent in the language of international diplomacy. I knew how to read the tension in a fractured community and de-escalate external violence. Yet, when the noise faded and I found myself alone, I realised I was completely illiterate when it came to reading my own 'shadow code'—the unspoken stories, unresolved memories, and hidden languages I kept locked away.

I was an expert in external mediation, but I was entirely unequipped to negotiate a ceasefire within my own mind.

I call this the Internal Divide.

This is not uniquely a peacebuilder's problem. Many of us are highly capable professionals. We operate on patients, we command university lecture halls, we manage complex businesses, and we hold our families together. We project absolute competence to the outside world. Yet, beneath that surface, we remain fractured, fighting a silent, exhausting war with the stories we carry.

You cannot force peace upon a divided nation, and you cannot force it upon yourself. Peace must be negotiated. And the very first step of that negotiation is excavation.

It requires sitting down at the table—perhaps in those quiet, solitary hours of first light—putting pen to paper, and facing the raw data of your own life. Through reflexive writing, we can slowly begin to translate our own shadow code. We learn to become the independent witness to our own history.

What is the hardest conversation you are currently avoiding with yourself?

11/07/2026

Living a fairly nomadic lifestyle just does something incredibly positive for me. I can't do a 9-to-5 office job—it truly feels like a prison. Yet, I can easily manage 48-hour travel days and visited 15 different countries last year alone! I have a massive trip coming up, going from the Philippines to China, across Europe, through the Middle East, and back again. Living this way often makes me feel sorry for my late father. He loved to travel too, but he stayed in a civil servant job despite a severe disability because he had to look after my mother and me. That must have been a huge struggle for him. I definitely don't take this freedom for granted. Drop a ❤️ if you're chasing the freedom to travel!

10/07/2026

Sometimes we long for others to understand our grief.

But one of the most important parts of healing is learning to witness it ourselves

Have you been able to witness your own grief?

10/07/2026

Here is a catchy, engaging text intro you can use for your YouTube video—either as a spoken hook at the beginning of the video or as the intro text for your description box!Hook / Video Intro:"Have you ever looked back at your life—from childhood to your adult years—and finally understood why you are the way you are? For the last few years, I've been looking at my past through the lens of someone who possibly has ADHD. While I haven't been officially diagnosed, learning about ADHD traits has completely transformed my life and given me incredible clarity. In this video, I'm opening up about my journey, including:How discovering Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) helped me understand my past reactions to rejection. Why a typical nine-to-five office job never worked for me, and how chasing a healthy 'dopamine rush' fueled my love for adventure. My experiences living in four different countries—from spending 25 years in Ireland, to Spain, and now the Philippines. How traveling the world and speaking to people involved in global peace processes helped me balance my love for socializing with my need to recharge alone. How learning about these traits acted like a new pair of glasses, allowing me to let go of embarrassment over past mistakes and find deep confidence for the future. If you are in a similar position, or just want to understand how embracing your natural traits can lead to a fulfilling life, this video is for you. Let's dive in!

06/07/2026

> Science had gotten it wrong for him.
> It wasn’t until his late fifties that this sixty-year-old Englishman finally discovered his ADHD traits. Suddenly, his entire past snapped into focus—the chaos, the hyperfocus, and the restless drive that never quite fit into the 'normal' box. He wasn’t broken. It was simply unique wiring.
> He came to see ADHD as an outdated catch-all. While for some it is genuinely pathological and requires real support, for many like him, those very same traits are a power: creativity, intensity, and the ability to see connections others miss.
> They aren't all just the same diagnosis. They are individuals with unique trait combinations that can either destroy or supercharge a life, depending entirely on context and self-understanding.
> Finding this lens late in life was one of the best things that ever happened to him, turning decades of old regrets into profound understanding and fuel.
> Now, he is asking others to share their experiences. If you have reframed your own 'flaws' later in life and it changed how you see your story, reply—he would love to hear it.
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