chasing answers newsletter #23
Sunday funday, It's the journey, stupid, Life advice
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Welcome back! No wasting time this week. Let’s dive in.
Sunday funday
It's been a bit since I sent out a newsletter.
Not by design. There are just not enough hours in the week right now. It's around 11:00 PM on Sunday as I type this. I planned to send this out at 8:00 PM…..three hours ago.
I got home at 1:30 this afternoon from working on a rental property with the intent of grabbing something to eat, joining a couple of mentor sessions for the latest Write of Passage cohort, and then working on my newsletter.
I had warned my wife and daughter that today would be a work day for me.
However, when I walked in the door, my daughter came running to me and wrapped her arms around my legs. "Daddy, you’re home! I'm so excited. Now you can play with me!"
I looked at my wife for help.
"Daddy has work to do today," she explained to my daughter.
"But he's home from work. Now he can play with me. I'm so excited!" She looked back at me, "Daddy, I've missed you so much. I'm so excited you came home early to play with me!"
Sorry, Write of Passage mentors, you guys are awesome, but you can't hold a candle to that.
I spent the next four hours playing on my daughter's playset, swinging, being the bad guy who stole the queen's magic wand, losing four consecutive games of 'stay out of the hot lava,' being her spotter while she practiced her latest gymnastics moves on the trampoline, and finally being ‘it’ for thirty consecutive minutes, regardless of who tagged who, in a game of tag.
It's not what I had planned, but it was, hands down, the best way I could've spent my Sunday afternoon.
It’s the journey, stupid.
This isn’t the first time I’ve written about the cartoon Bluey, and it probably won’t be the last. I absolutely love that damn show.
Recently my daughter and I watched an episode called Road Trip. We've seen the episode before, and it's one of my favorites. It's so good I had to find a way to include it in the newsletter.
In the episode, Bluey and her family are heading out on a road trip to go camping. Bluey’s dad, Bandit, is obsessed with making good time so they can get to the campground ahead of the grey nomad caravan and get a good spot. Bluey is an Australian cartoon, and I wasn’t familiar with the term “grey nomad,” but it’s just a retired person who travels around in a motor home.
I can totally relate to this because, for some reason, anytime we go somewhere, I set out to get there faster than we, or anyone I know, ever has. I have no idea why I do this. For whatever reason, I can’t just relax and enjoy the ride.
Throughout the episode, Bandit struggles to stay in front of the caravan until it finally passes him because Bluey and Bingo (Bluey’s sister) have to take a bush wee (piss behind a tree.)
Bluey ruins his opportunity to get back in front of the caravan because she wants to see the giant peanut roadside attraction, which is also where the caravan is headed.
The look on Bandit’s face when he realizes he’s not getting around the caravan is one I know well. One of frustration and defeat.
Ultimately they get to the giant peanut, the kids love it, and Bandit is grateful for the detour. The moral of the story - slow down and enjoy the journey.
Life Advice
A few weeks ago, David Perell sent out twenty-eight pieces of life advice in his newsletter.
He also put out this tweet thread with those same twenty-eight pieces of advice that has garnered almost fifteen thousand likes.
His advice was excellent, and I liked the idea so much I decided to tweet my top twelve pieces of life advice.
For some reason, my tweet didn't gain quite the traction his did.🧐 I guess the algos were broken that day or something.
Since I don't want my readers to miss out on these little nuggets, I have included them here. They have a different feel than David's. We clearly live very different lives. Nonetheless, enjoy!
The next time you go on a road trip, do it without using GPS. It will make your arrival at your destination twice as exhilarating
Own a dog. You won't know what a real best friend is until you do.
If you ever have to be the best man in a wedding and you don't like the bride, leave that little piece of information out of your speech.
Love the place where you live.
If you are young and know children are in your future, work your ass off now and save like crazy because when they get here, you will want to spend as much time with them as possible.
If you're ever pulled over by a cop while intoxicated, and they request you take a breathalyzer, never do so without first talking to your lawyer.
Spend money on a good lawyer.
The next time you consider purchasing something, think of the cost of the item in terms of hours, not dollars. Knowing how much of your time you are giving up for something helps determine if the item is worth it. (More often than not, it isn't)
Never buy generic peanut butter. NEVER.
Should you ever have the option to choose between being wealthy or famous, choose wealthy. No one really wants to be famous. (I'm neither, so this may not be sound advice)
Be kind to your parents. When you become one, you'll realize what a terrible child you were.
Don't waste your time reading threads on Twitter.
For the record, I can personally vouch for every one of these (except maybe #10.)
Now that I think about it, there's one missing.
If you ever have to decide between attending a few Write of Passage mentor sessions and writing your newsletter or spending the afternoon playing with your daughter, choose to play with your daughter. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
That’s all for now.
I hope you all have a great week!
As always, I would love to hear from you.
If you read something here that resonates with you, leave a comment.
If you would like to discuss something further, shoot me an email.
If there was something you absolutely hated, @ me on Twitter.
And if there is something you think I should be writing about, please let me know.
If you want to see more of my work, visit chasinganswers.co.
Thank you for reading, and if you liked what you read, please share.
randy
You totally seem like the type who WOULD steal the queen's magic wand. Go figure.
Really enjoying this Bluey series in your newsletter, an unexpected joy.