The best moments of my life have one thing in common

Or, a sales pitch to embrace the beautiful world out there

25 years ago I bought a plane ticket to Europe. I spent the next few months stumbling around until the $3,000 I’d saved had run out. I met up with a childhood buddy on the steps of the Duomo in Florence. I ran into college friends randomly at a bus stop in Switzerland. We hiked a lot. We drank even more. I got my ass kicked in Prague for kissing the wrong girl.

15 years ago I met a woman in Barcelona. We went to lunch together after I gave a talk at her office. It was a rainy outside. She stopped in a fleeting ray of sunshine on the way. She then tilted up her head, closed her eyes, and smiled. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Something told me that my life would begin and end with her.

5 years ago my son and I were walking home from our neighborhood market. I had to work that day. He didn’t. He asked me if we could sit down to eat one of the peaches we’d bought. I said no at first. But his big brown eyes convinced me that email could wait. We sat in silence for five minutes on a park bench eating our peaches. “Thanks, Dad!” he said once we got back to our apartment. “That was a good peach.”

1 year ago my youngest son and I were lying in bed. He’s not the biggest fan of sleeping and he’s also not the world’s biggest cuddler. “I can’t close my eyes!” he said as he pushed my arm away between cries. But then he grabbed one of my fingers and pulled it towards his chest. It stayed that way for over an hour before he finally rolled over and began to rest.

I can think of a million other moments. Some of them big. Others small. Adventures around the globe. Quiet time at home. Random nights with strangers that I wanted to last forever. Conversations with loved ones I never wanted to end. The circumstances differ. The faces change. But the one thing they all have in common is my phone wasn’t anywhere to be found.

What if all you had to do to live the life you wanted was to get to know yourself?

What if all you had to do was zero in on the person in front of you?

What if all you had to do was lift your head?

I’m not going to throw stats at you about how much time the average person wastes on Instagram or watching TikTok videos of some teenager dancing. We’ve heard it all before. It’s not working. The overlords sure do know how to make things addicting.

But what I am going to ask you to do is to think deeply about the best moments of your life.

The big moments.
The small ones.
Everything in-between.

What were you doing? Who were you with? Why did it matter? How did it make you feel? Don’t rush it. Sit with it. Write them down. Breathe the experiences in until you can taste them again.

Life is short.

It’s your job to make it long.

That will never happen if you don’t prioritize your future memories over staring at your phone.

---

Thanks for reading.
My best to you and yours.
—Michael