How Can I Serve You?

As I mentioned in yesterday's newsletter, I've been trying to think of how I can best serve you during this surreal time. I think it's at least partly by helping you serve your loved ones, which is why, earlier this week, I shared some ideas on things you can do as a family while you're all home.

But I think I can also serve you by reminding you that you can lower the bar for everything. Now is not the time to insist on perfection - not when your entire family is home and cooped up. It's hard, if not impossible, to do everything well. So give yourself a break.

At the same time, try to make something good come of the experience. I don't expect to create special family memories every day, but I'm optimistic that we'll have some fun moments we look back on fondly.

I subscribe to several newsletters that regularly offer new insights, and one of them is Mark Frauenfelder's Book Freak newsletter. Yesterday's email included quotes from Yuval Noah Harari's book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (affiliate link). I especially liked the following passage:

The first step is to tone down the prophecies of doom, and switch from panic mode to bewilderment. Panic is a form of hubris. It comes from the smug feeling that I know exactly where the world is heading — down. Bewilderment is more humble, and therefore more clear-sighted. If you feel like running down the street crying "The apocalypse is upon us!", try telling yourself "No, it's not that. Truth is, I just don't understand what’s going on in the world."

With that said, please let me know how I can help you during this trying time. And in the meantime, enjoy this video, which I have watched and laughed at more times than I count (it's better with volume, and sorry for the salty language in the caption but that dog is just too funny):

Fuckin buckled how unprovoked this is pic.twitter.com/DybhzAizkk

— Sam (@Samphrakhun) March 13, 2020