I sat down to write a blog post about my new sprint management system and how automated it is.
Then I put on my liked songs on Spotify, headphones in, and the post immediately became about something else.
I’m in Bangkok right now, looking out the window at all the buildings and streets, and the songs are just hitting. “Cuyamaca” by Ginger Runner came on first, then “Hometown” by French 79, then “Kenji” by Ooyy. They came on in reverse order somehow, and every single one was a banger.
It was not one specific lyric or one perfect cinematic moment. It was more like the whole room shifted. The city was still there. The work was still there. But I was suddenly in a different state.
That feels worth mentioning.
Most of my good ideas have come when I’m deep in the zone, music on, not really trying to force anything. Idk why exactly, but I have a theory.
When you’re listening to music that you actually connect with, that music is a part of you. You are more yourself. You’re less inhibited. You’re less concerned with the outside world and its expectations of you. You’re more connected to the sounds, energy, rhythms, memories, and motion that make you you.
The music and songs you connect with are not just background music. They are part of you. A core element of being human. Since the beginning, people have used sound and rhythm to build community, carry emotion, start movements, grieve, celebrate, and remember who they are.
My mood can change on a dime with the next song. My emotions change. My thoughts change. My body changes. I can feel like multiple versions of myself in different places, and the wild part is that I can switch between those states with the click of a button.
That is a superpower.
The true power of music is that it drops your inhibitions. It drops the constant awareness of the outside world and what it expects from you. You stop forcing your thoughts. You open up. Ideas expand because you are not trying to squeeze them into whatever shape productivity wants them to be.
And honestly, I have never been listening to good music and wished I was somewhere else doing something else.
Everything is changing. The world feels massive and increasingly abstract, accelerating on a curve none of us fully understand. AI is getting fucking wild. Geopolitics are blowing up. We are more divided than ever, and so many people look at the future with some level of dread.
So what do you have left?
You have your friends and family. The people you care about. The things you care about. The way you move through the world. The things you give value to.
Maybe what you focus on, what you give your attention to, is where meaning starts.
And your focus is powerful.
For me, music is one of the things that brings me back to that. I have yet to have a real music session where I do not come out of it feeling more whole, more raw, more true to myself, and more engaged with the world.
But maybe for you it is not music.
Maybe it is writing. Walking. Cooking. Drawing. Sitting and thinking. Feeling the breeze on your face. Yoga. Lifting. Swimming. Going for a drive and watching the scenery pass on either side. Calling a friend and having a real conversation about where life has taken you since the last time you talked.
The specific thing matters less than the return.
Something that makes you remember you are human. That you are cherished. That you are valuable. That life is not just tasks and outcomes and systems and screens.
The things that bring us back to that reality are what make life worth living.
We are on the cusp of something great and terrifying. Great in the true sense: bigger than we can fully comprehend, maybe larger than the world is ready to handle. And in that kind of moment, what can keep us grounded more than the people we love, the communities around us, our music, our food, our bodies, and our time together?
And if you do not have as much of that as you want right now, know that it is still possible.
Take the first step and connect.
Most people are good. Most people overwhelmingly want the same basic things: to love, experience, appreciate, connect, and feel what it means to be alive.
So maybe take a moment to do the thing you connect with. You probably know what it is already.
Put on the playlist. Go for the run. Cook the meal. Draw the thing. Swim. Drive. Call your friend. Sit in the empty room and listen.
Life is too short and too great to not spend more of it doing what matters and what brings you joy and fulfillment.
You do not need to escape reality.
But you do need to make sure you connect with what makes reality worth living.