Zooming out
Perspective from 2 trillion galaxies away
This is me
Hi I’m Nate, this is me writing this newsletter from my room.
I have a lot to be serious about right now.
I’m currently interviewing for my dream job. A huge deal. A lot of weight to carry. Will I get it? Am I the right person for it? Is this actually my moment?
I recently released a music project, and I’m not exactly sure how to move forward. Do I keep the same routine? Work more? Work differently? I don’t know yet.
I got a new camera, and I’m trying to figure out what to do with it. What do I shoot? What’s my style? Do I post every week? Instagram is probably toxic, but I like it. Do I only post and never scroll? Can I actually do that?
I’m about to be gone for an entire month in California. Should I see friends while I’m there? Should I go to LA or San Diego? Both? Neither?
My lease is up in May. Do I move? Do I stay in Salt Lake? Go back to Hawaii? Do something entirely new?
It snowed today. Should I go ski? I’m kind of in summer mode, but I don’t get powder days like this very often. I also want to write. I want to make content. I want to do seventeen things at once, and I’m doing none of them.
I have a friend I haven’t talked to in a while. Should I call today?
Do I need help?
Hold up. Let’s zoom out.
This Is My Block
My neighbor is also wondering whether to ski this morning.
A few houses down, someone’s lease is ending this month and they haven’t found a place either.
Someone on this block just lost their dream job.
Someone else has been listening to construction noise next door for six straight months and is absolutely losing their mind.
Everyone in every house is carrying something.
The block doesn’t know. It all stays hidden behind doors.
This Is Utah
Thousands of die-hard skiers are rushing to the mountain right now for fresh powder.
Thousands more are staying home, writing off the season, telling themselves they’ll get it next winter.
55 people will die in Utah today.
100 people will be born.
Someone will get their dream job today.
Someone will retire from the job they gave thirty years to.
The Wasatch doesn’t care about any of it. It just sits there - enormous, quiet, doing nothing in particular.
This Is Earth
Summer is arriving in the northern hemisphere. Winter is arriving in the south. The planet keeps rotating. It does this every day without being asked.
Twelve million people are on a plane right now. Every single one of them is in the middle of something.
170k people will die today.
385k people will be born.
Someone is hearing their favorite song for the first time.
Someone is eating their last meal.
Someone just fell in love. Someone just fell out of it.
Rainforests burn. Forests grow. Oceans rise and fall.
It has always been this way.
It will keep being this way.
This Is the Universe
The Milky Way is one of roughly 2 trillion galaxies.
The observable universe is about 93 billion light-years across. And that’s just the part we can see.
Light from the most distant stars left before Earth existed. It is only now arriving.
The universe may have no end. Scientists say this with straight faces and then go home and make dinner.
And somewhere in all of that - on one rock, orbiting one average star - something woke up.
It grew eyes. It grew curiosity. It looked up and started asking questions.
That’s us.
Hey, It’s Me Again
Turns out there wasn't much to be serious about after all.
Same room. Same questions.
I realized: I don’t actually have to answer them.
The universe did not build all of this so you could spend your one life paralyzed by the questions in your head.
You are here.
You get to love people.
You get to make things.
You get to have fun.
That’s the deal.
Be willing to do what your heart actually wants.
The rest unfolds from there.
It always has.
:)
My favorite yet!