Let me make you some coffee

Good morning. I thought we would do a little Sunday coffee together because it's one of those days where, well, it's cold and dark and dreary outside. And to be honest, I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay home today. You know, just get some stuff done around the house, some chores, some coffee. I thought I'd make you a cup. And in the process, we could talk a little bit about just some of the things I've been thinking about. But one thing in particular that I found myself thinking about

morning as I was reading, because it was really nice, again, not to go anywhere, just to stay in and read. And that was: Life is long. Doesn't always feel that way. We always talk about how life is short. We got to hurry. But I keep thinking about how life is long. Temperature is good there. This is the one downside. I'm not 100% sure I actually have enough to share. So let's see how this goes. Pardon me for 1 second. Just going to measure out enough for both of us. Oh, yeah, we should have en

ough. I mean, I'll just pour the rest of this out. Go a little bit over the top. 34. 35 grams. 36 grams. 35.67 grams. You don't have to hear the coffee grinding part. I like this grinder. It just takes a long time. And I also need to rinse the filter. This is a process best carried out by a sink. I'm starting to understand why. Hold on. Just took it as another opportunity to wash my hands. I've been using a Chemex for I don't even know how long now. Probably just like five or six years. Wasn't a

lways like, a total coffee nerd. I don't know that I even qualify as being— I love coffee, and obviously I like what I tend to think of as good, like, quality coffee. But the Chemex. The reason that I really like the Chemex is, for one, it's the best for making coffee for two people, which is really nice. This is what I make every time my dad is here. Or like, Puxan comes over for a cup of coffee, or that's about it, honestly. I don't have a lot of neighbors. Most of my friends won't come this

far. I don't live close to almost any of my friends. So Puxan's the only one that lives anywhere nearby. But the reasons that I really like the Chemex is because of just the clarity that it provides. Like, the filtration is really nice. And if you're drinking something that's lighter, like an ethiopian that tends to be fruitier and I guess a little bit more aromatic. It really does a good job of bringing that out. Whereas, like, the aeropress, which is the other thing that I tend to use al

l the time, this is what I actually use day to day for myself. Because a single person can use this really easily. The filters are tiny, you don't even have to really rinse them off... So it's a lot more efficient, a little bit less wasteful. Like, this feels like a lot of paper for one person. And then it lets a little bit of more of the oil through. But having, like, a full bodied, oily cup of coffee is not a bad thing either. And if the word oil turned you off, don't worry, we can stop ta

lking about coffee right about there. So this morning, when I was sitting in the chair upstairs, you might know that I have a little bit of access to my landlady's apartment for practicing my piano. I can sit on the balcony when it's not stormy outside. I mean, I could sit up there when it's stormy. I just choose not to. Since I end up working up there some. I also just kind of post up and read for a little bit. So I was reading this morning, and one of the nice things that I get, like the s

ense that I get from reading up there, or any space that's not down here, although I get it down here, too, to some degree, is that feeling like, man, I can't wait to have my own space, like an apartment or a creative studio or somewhere that has a ton of light that is open, that I can host. That's something I can't do here. That's the one rule she gave me when she gave me access to her place upstairs, is I couldn't host. And I miss hosting. I miss having friends over, having dinners or par

ties or whatever. So I miss doing that. I obviously would like to be a little bit closer to my friends so that more of them would just come by for coffee. I guess the cool thing about it is that sense is a hopeful one for me right now. Because in the past, I think it felt like life was moving so fast and I was never going to get there. I remember there were different barriers that I've crossed— or landmarks that I have crossed— along the way. Whether that was graduating from high school, g

raduating from college, moving abroad for the first time, turning 30, coming up to each of those felt kind of scary because you didn't really know what was on the other side. Graduating from high school was more exciting because I knew college was on the other side. And I grew up in a college town, so I had a pretty good idea of the fun that was on its way. I was very excited to actually get to college and just have a grand old time, which I did. But once you get past college, at least the w

ay that I was raised and in the town I was raised in, which is a university/ farming town, they don't really give you a whole lot of instructions about what's going to happen after college. And leading up to that is kind of exciting, but kind of scary. And then you get to the other side and discover, yeah, life just kind of keeps going, and it kind of keeps getting better. Same thing I discovered when I turned 30. There was something just freeing about turning 30, if you go back— We've been

releasing these vlogs that I was making back when I turned 30. So in 2015, I was vlogging a little bit, like, experimenting with it. Definitely inspired by Casey Neistat at the time. He was just, like, rocketing. And the whole format was fascinating to me and something that I thought was really cool. And it was a really, really lonely period of my life. I was a consultant. I was traveling all over the country, training people on electronic medical records, which is just about as boring as i

t sounds. It was a good way of seeing the country. And when I turned 30, I actually flew down to Cancun, I think, and I made a vlog about it. And it's kind of the saddest, loneliest vlog. And I remember going down there by myself. I think my client actually had to pay for the airfare, but I had enough hotel points at that point, and I was completely by myself. And I was making these videos and trying to write because I was writing. I was writing another book at the time. And I was so deeply

lonely. I was so sad and so alone. And I turned 30 by myself in Mexico. No friends around, no family. I hardly said a word to anybody that I met while I was there. And the only companion I had was my camera and the, like, four people that watched that video. If you want to see something that's about that tragic. We've been rereleasing those for my patrons every Monday. I think it's at the Wanderer level and up. You get to actually go back and watch those old videos because they've been made

private, they're not visible. They're on another channel altogether than my channel. So we're just kind of putting those out one at a time. But the reason I bring it up is because I remember despite the fact that it was a really lonely period and despite the fact that I was really struggling, I just remember feeling unburdened by turning 30. I remember feeling a sense of freedom and a sense of change. It's when I made the decision to lose weight for the first time and wound up being very su

ccessful at it. I just felt different in a good way. And it was surprising because I kind of thought, oh, no, my life is coming to an end. And in the same way, I'm approaching 40 now. 38, I guess. there's so many reasons to look at your life and think, oh, my gosh, what have I done? And that's not fair, because when I stop and look at what I've done with my life, it's actually a fair amount. Here, I got to throw this away. Ah, I'll let it cool down. Here's the question I have for you, thou

gh. Do you want the Thompson Twins mug or the Good News Coffee shop mug? Please vote in the comments for which coffee mug you want really quickly because I'm about to give you one, and I can't promise the one you voted for. I got this one from the Atelier de Lumières. You know, the really fun, immersive art experience here in Paris. And I grew up loving Tintin. I recognize Tintin problematic for a number of reasons, but I tend to credit Tintin with being part of the reason that I wanted to ex

plore the world so much, how much of an interesting adventure life could be. And so it kind of just makes me feel warm and fuzzy to see these two bumbling buffoons on a coffee mug. I like this one a lot. Here, you can have that one. I think that's a good one. It makes me happy. What can I say? Good News makes me happy, too. But that's a good one. Ooh, that's nice. That's exactly what I needed. The thing that I get reminded of when I'm sitting there reading my books and seeing a little bit of

history, right? I'm reading this book on the history of France. I'm also reading Atomic Habits again. I haven't read it for a while, and I really wanted to reread it and see how my perspective on it had changed. And it's been really good. I'm really enjoying it. And recognizing, man, there's so much of life left to live. I don't know if I've shared this story yet or not, but I ran into this guy in the park when I was walking Cooper one day. He was playing with his dog as well. Older than me

in his fifty s or sixty s, told me his story about how he was a retired army colonel, I think, and he was on his way to being a general, but he'd had some health issues and he'd spent his entire career traveling the world. Like, that's why he got into the army as an engineer, was to see the world. And when he had these health concerns, they told him, you're going to have to stay behind a desk. Like, you can still continue on, you can retire as a general, but you're going to have to lay low. W

e don't want you getting injured off adventuring somewhere. And he was like, you know what, now I'm done. He retired and he seemed very happy about that. But he also seemed very happy just about life in general, where in his forties he saw like some guys swinging sticks was the way that he put it and went to check it out and discovered golf and was terrible at it but loved learning and just went for it and eventually started golfing and golfed all over the world until he was no longer allowe

d to travel all over the world, at least on the government's dime. And he also then around that time, ended up picking up piano in his mid forties. And he told me he didn't know the difference between a white key and a black key, but he started playing and eventually he became pretty good at it. And then his son started playing and his son overtook him in proficiency very quickly. But I found it a very inspiring story because here's this guy who's just like happy to be out with his dog, sti

ll traveling around the world on his own dime now, still adventuring around a little bit, but still actively learning and improving his quality of life by keeping things going. I looked at him and I think I told him, I was like, I've always wanted to learn how to play piano. And I realized, why don't I? I think that was this last spring, like maybe almost a year ago, and I said, I'm going to do it. So for my birthday, I ended up buying a piano. When my landlady asked me, which is very nice of

her, she asked me what did I want for my birthday. I had no idea how to respond to that. And then halfway through the phone call I realized, oh, you know what, actually, I would really like to learn how to play piano and I don't have any space for that in my apartment. I'll make it work if I have to, but be very convenient if I could put it up in your apartment and use it up there. And she thought about it for a second. And she said, you know what? I could do you one better. How about I cont

ribute to buying that piano? And so she ended up sending me a check. And letting me use the space up there. She is my patron saint for sure. I mean, it took a couple of months. I think it was traveling. And I didn't start until September. But in September, I got a teacher. And I started learning. And it's been phenomenal. And it's taken me back to square one. Where I have to learn a skill basically from scratch. Like, I played some music when I was a kid. I learned how to read music when I

was learning how to play cello. I'm having to relearn all this stuff. Like it's not second nature. But that does help a little bit. But there's something really gratifying about starting at the baseline. And struggling. And not getting very much in the way of results. But seeing those tiny little improvements. Day by day, week by week. And it makes me really excited for the rest of my life. Because I realize I don't have to stop there. There's so much I can learn. There's so much to see a

nd explore and experiment with. And you never know where life's going to take you. I had another quote that came through. I was listening to Matt Pat's interview with Colin and Samir. And it was either he or, his wife, I believe her name's Stephanie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they talked about how on the spectrum of happiness, between happiness. And you would think unhappiness. In reality, it's between happiness and interestingness. How interesting is your life, versus how happy is your l

ife? And the more interesting your life, possibly the less happy. And this might make me sound really weird. But when I heard them say that. And they were talking about how there's an exchange that can be made if you simplify your life, make it maybe a little more boring, you're probably going to be happier. I thought, you know, it's funny. I've always wanted to have an interesting life. For some reason. I don't know why. Again, who knows? Maybe we can blame Tintin. How do you like the co

ffee, by the way? Hopefully, it's good. And when I think about what I have done with my life so far. And how many more fun things there are out there to figure out. It's an exchange that I'm willing to make. At least to some degree. I think I'd like to dial it back a little bit. But I guess I've never described myself as a happy person. And it really made that feel a little less heavy to recognize that the exchange that I've made has actually been one that I wanted from the beginning. So all t

his to say that I don't know where life's going to lead me, and I don't know if I'm going to end up with a really cool, creative studio in Paris or a chateau out in the french countryside, or who knows where I'll end up in the world at what time in life. But it's helped me a lot to stop feeling like I have to get there now. And it's helped me to stop measuring myself against people who already have the things that I think I want, because I'm on my own journey. And the more that I can master m

y habits, the more that I can master my environment, the more that I will just end up heading towards the things that I do want. And if you'd have asked me ten years ago would I end up in Paris, vlogging daily, making my living, exploring the city, and sharing it with you? I would never have guessed that would be the case. So who knows where we end up in ten more years? There's no rush to get there. I think the challenge that I have for myself right now is to really enjoy where I'm at today,

make some plans, make some adjustments, build some good habits, get healthier and happier, maybe a little more interesting, and then we see where we go. Yeah. And that's what I've been thinking about this morning. I'm going to shout out my sister, who just recently upped her pledge on Patreon, and it's really kind of her to support me in the first place. Kaarin, thank you so much. My Patreon producer for today, and also somebody I'm looking forward to having more time with in the future. T

hat's another one of those things that has definitely been a challenge, like living apart from family and not being able to spend as much time with my sister as I would really like to. But it helps to relieve a little bit of that pressure or that sadness, knowing that we have decades ahead of us to continue to build our relationship. And it's something that I want to make sure that I do and that I do well. If you enjoyed sitting down and having a cup of coffee with me, let me know. And, of

course, if you got the mug you wanted, let me know. Maybe we can switch it around next time. I'm really excited for what's to come. I think there's just so much more fun in the future. It's really easy to get doom and gloom about so many of the things that are going on in life. Can't control most of that. So I'd rather just kind of sit and focus on what can I control in my own life, in my own circle. And we'll go from there. Anyway, thanks for watching, and I'll see you bright and early tom

orrow morning for another one of these. What are they? They asked. Nobody knew.