Taking control: manual transmission & surfboards
Plus some powerful quotes from Jon Kabat Zinn, Wesley Snipes, and The Universe
Hi fam,
Last Friday night, Reid let me take his 1991 BMW 325i convertible with a manual transmission out for a spin, and boy was it fun! Contrary to popular belief, I am actually a good driver and parallel parker. Ask Elizabeth and Reid!
There’s something about being in direct control of a machine that is poetic, fascinating, and addicting. It’s a topic that I will surely explore more in the future since Reid is slowly persuading me to get a motorcycle. To be continued. Oliver Sacks approves.
Learning to surf the waves of grief
Grief. Have you experienced it? Somehow, I’ve made it through 29 years of life on this floating rock without experiencing this universal human emotion. Sure, I’ve felt sadness, depression, and the like, but never the deep sorrow stemming from the loss of someone that we call grief. Well, until this breakup.
Through this experience, I’m learning firsthand how grief comes and goes, with good days and bad days. It rises and falls like the tides or waves in the sea. Which reminds of a quote a therapist once shared with me, originally attributed to Jon Kabat Zinn:
It’s been almost 5 months since Todd and I amicably separated, and I’m proud to say that I’ve finally learned how to stand up on my surfboard and ride the whitewash back into shore.
A Note from the Universe
Every morning, I get an emailed note from “The Universe.” While some are better than others, today’s note is fantastic, so I’m sharing with y’all.
People are awesome, Brady, they care about pretty much everything, everyone, always. It's just that they're also so busy believing what they've been told, and therefore manifesting it, that they genuinely haven't noticed that in your gorgeous little planet's entire history, there's never been:
A drought that didn't end,
A storm that didn't clear,
Lightning that didn't retreat,
An earthquake that didn't still,
A flood that didn't recede, or,
A virus that wasn't eventually, completely, and utterly overwhelmed by the healthy.
Now, as a rule, I'm not into odds, statistics, or gambling, but it doesn't take a genius to see that something's going on "down there," the deck is clearly stacked, you've got friends in some very high places, and none of the "hard and mean" stuff was ever true.
Hit me, baby!
The Universe
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Sorry if I’m slower than usual to reply to your texts!
One result of trying to be on my phone less is that my replies to text messages are significantly delayed. If I am slow to respond, please forgive me & don’t read into it! I used to be an Inbox Zero kind of guy, and now I’m constantly at 20+ unread text messages.
I’m stressing hard because my pulmonary block exam is tomorrow, 😬 so that’s it for now. Please send good vibes tomorrow at 8am CT. 🤓
Hope you’re well! Lots of love,
Brady
Lagniappe
Beats of the Week
Read of the Week
Last week, The New York Times published The Best of Tiny Love Stories, 10 of the most poignant, funny and poetic published submissions of my favorite NYT column. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Which one of these was your favorite? [If you don’t have a NYT subscription]