You're Not Unique, Crazy People & Jazz

Hi friend,

I learned how to practice transcendental meditation (TM) a few weeks ago.

During an introductory session, our instructor explained how the technique works.

It’s simple, effortless, and exactly what I’ve been looking for.

“This sounds amazing,” I said, “but I just have a feeling that this isn’t going to work for me…”

The instructor looked at me, smiled, and kindly said, “Devin, I’ve taught more than 3000 students this exact technique and it’s worked for every single one of them. I have some bad news for you. You’re not that unique.”

The group laughed at my expense. I’ll take that one on the chin.

Now, what the instructor said may sound harsh, but I wasn’t offended by it. In fact, it was strangely liberating to hear those words.

I’m not that unique.

I’m not special.

And that’s a good thing.

You see, people want to be unique. I know I do. I take great pride in my eclectic music taste, interests, and personality quirks.

And that’s awesome. You should. It’s great to feel unique.

However, when this “unique mindset” starts to leak into other areas of your life, it becomes troublesome.

People start to believe that their circumstances, challenges, or abilities are so unique that standard advice or solutions just won't work for them.

“I can’t lose weight, it runs in my family”

“I’ll never be successful because of X”

“I’m so complicated. I’ll never find love.”

But if I’m being honest, I think we use our uniqueness as an excuse to not try. After all, we can’t fail if there’s no solution for us.

I understand that we want to cherish our uniqueness, but what purpose does it serve if it prevents our growth?

Being common is not a bad thing. In fact, the commonalities we share with other humans are liberating.

The reality is that we are much more alike one another than we are different. Millions of people have overcome the exact challenge your facing. Often from a much worse circumstance.

So yes, your problems are basic and that’s a good thing. Because when you have basic problems, you have basic solutions. And when you have basic solutions, you aren’t far away from the life you’ve always wanted to live.

P.S. The meditation technique ended up being incredibly effective. Turns out I’m not that unique after all. Who would have thought?

A VIDEO SO GOOD, IT MADE ME CRY

I often forget just how good Casey Neistat is at storytelling.

This video is about his journey to run a sub 3 hour marathon.

It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. It’s everything a YouTube video should be. If I ever make a video 1/10th as good as this, I’ll die a happy man.

2 BEAUTIFUL SONGS

I recently stumbled across a La La Land acoustic guitar cover by an artist named Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy).

I thought she had an amazing voice, so I decided to check out her music on Spotify.

“Wow. 12 million monthly listeners. She must be some pop star I’ve never heard of”

I click play on her most popular track, From The Start, and I can’t believe my ears.

It’s a…jazz…bossa nova song?

I do a double take at the number of streams to make sure I’m seeing things right.

I sure am.

I’m listening to a jazz/bossa nova song that came out in 2023 and has 231,000,000 streams?

What the actual fuck.

I’m not sure what the opposite feeling of finding a hidden gem is, but that’s what I felt in that moment.

In the last few weeks, I’ve gotten the chance to listen to a good chunk of Laufey’s discography and I must say, it’s truly a breath of fresh air.

I especially love two songs (for these reasons):

• Lovesick (amazing chord progression in the chorus)

• Falling Behind (the current state of my love life, perfectly articulated)

QUOTE I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT

A HILARIOUS PODCAST

I listened to this at the gym and was dying of laughter the whole time. Everyone must have thought I was crazy.

WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO

Two new videos! Have you seen them yet?

Until next time, try not to take life too seriously.

Talk soon,

Devin