Field Notes for a Modern Life is my corner of the internet for clarity, story, and the small human truths that sit behind the noise. It’s a home for people who want more than hot takes. People who want context. People who want to understand the world without drowning in it.

I’m John Wozniak. I’ve lived a life that refuses to sit in one tidy box, so I stopped trying to put it in one. These pages are the result.

About Woz

I am not related to Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple). I grew up between worlds. My earliest memories stretch from West Berlin before the Wall fell to the grey tension of Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. Those places shaped the way I see people. How they move. How they cope. How they carry on when the headlines have moved on.

Later I joined the British Army and spent years on operations across the Balkans and the Middle East. Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan. Different languages, different landscapes, the same universal truth that everyone is just trying to survive the day they’ve been given.

War teaches you things you don’t forget. Travel teaches you things you didn’t expect. Both have shaped the way I write. I pay attention to the details. The way a city wakes up. The smell of diesel on a cold morning. The laughter that still finds its way into a broken place. These are the human threads I follow.

Today I work as a sustainability consultant and spend my life trying to solve real problems in a world that doesn’t stand still. I also write for several publications, but Field Notes is the one that feels closest to my bones.

What Field Notes Is

This publication is part travelogue, part reflective essay, part dispatch from the front lines of modern life. Not a lifestyle blog, not a news site, not an academic journal. Something more human than that.

Here you’ll find:

• Stories from lived experience
• Observations about culture, conflict, cities and people
• Short and long-form essays that look for meaning, not spectacle
• Travel pieces rooted in the real world, not the influencer one
• War commentary from someone who has lived more of it than he ever planned to
• Practical notes for staying grounded in a world that runs too fast

It’s a blend: part travel narrator, part war correspondent, part reflective essayist, part practical problem-solver. The writing sits somewhere between a notebook, a field journal, and a message to a friend.

Why I Write

Because the world feels chaotic and people are tired of being shouted at.

Because stories matter. Because context matters. Because resilience is earned in the quiet moments, not only the dramatic ones.

And selfishly, because writing keeps me steady. It’s the way I make sense of the past and take the measure of the present. If it helps you do the same, then this project is doing its job.

What You’ll Find Here

• Essays shaped by lived experience rather than theory
• Travel writing that isn’t about perfection but about perspective
• Notes on conflict, history, place and people
• Reflections on clarity, resilience and meaning
• Occasional gently witty observations that remind us not to take ourselves too seriously

The aim is simple: to help people navigate a noisy world with a clearer head and a steadier heart.

A Final Note From Field Notes for Moden Life

You don’t need to be a soldier, traveller, writer, history buff, or sustainability nerd to be here. You just need to be human. Curious. Open to a story or two.

Field Notes is a companion for the road. A reminder that even in uncertain times, there are patterns worth noticing, questions worth asking, and moments worth writing down.

If any of this resonates, you’re in the right place.

Pull up a chair. Let’s see where the next note takes us.

What You Receive as a Reader

Your time matters. So does your money. If you choose to support Field Notes, here’s what you get in return. No fluff. No filler. Just worthwhile writing shaped by lived experience.

For Free Subscribers

You’ll receive the core of what Field Notes stands for.

• Thoughtful short essays
• Travel notes from the road
• Observations on modern life
• Occasional dispatches on conflict and world events
• Human moments that offer clarity rather than noise

You’ll always get something worth reading, even if you never pay a penny.

For Paid Subscribers

The paid tier is for readers who want to go deeper. It’s where the real craft, analysis and long-form storytelling live.

1. Deep Dives

Longer, carefully researched pieces on culture, conflict, travel and the patterns shaping the world. Think narrative journalism meets lived experience.

2. Signature Essays

The big reflections. The personal stories I won’t publish anywhere else.
Pieces that take time, effort and honesty to get right.

3. Writing Notes

Behind-the-scenes commentary on the writing life.
How ideas form, drafts evolve, stories take shape and discipline is kept in check.

4. Travel Dispatches

Not guidebooks. Not influencer fluff.
Real-world travel writing rooted in perspective, meaning and place.
The small stories that usually go unnoticed.

I recently wrote about an epic 7 day trip to Jamaica, one can be done in a day, but travel with the Royal Air Force is something else.

5. War & Geopolitical Analysis

Clear, grounded commentary shaped by years in uniform and tours across the Balkans and Middle East.
Context over drama. Patterns over panic.
The kind of insight you don’t get from news alerts.

6. Practical Guides

Straightforward pieces that help you navigate modern life:
clarity, decision-making, focus, mindset, and resilience.
Less theory, more lived experience you can use.

7. Resilience Frameworks

Lessons drawn from war zones, travel mishaps, leadership failures and the odd moment of grace.
Not motivational posters. Practical tools for staying steady.

8. Exclusive Q&A & Chats

Private threads where we talk as a small, steady community.
Questions, debates, reflections and the kind of conversation that never works on social media’s public stage.

In Short

If you subscribe, you’re supporting independent writing that gives you:

• Clarity in a noisy world
• Perspective shaped by lived experience
• Stories that stay with you
• Practical thinking you can actually use
• A community that values substance over spectacle

This is writing for people who want to understand the world, not be overwhelmed by it.

If that sounds like you, then you’ll feel at home here.