the luxury of being completely unobserved & the internet (reflections from Taylor Swift's speech)

reflections from Taylor Swift's artist of the year acceptance speech at the iHeartRadio music awards 2026.

pondering on the wisdom from one of the world's biggest stars on artists (or anyone really!) and their crafts and of course the disturbing internet

also this is episode 13??? what are the odds????

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I wanna start this episode by talking about the iHeart Radio Music Awards that happened at the end of March 2026. Now, at this particular music awards, Taylor Swift was awarded with Artist of the Year. And she gave a very, very interesting acceptance speech that I want to discuss with you today. Because I think there's really important things from this speech. And I have personally been wowed. I've been thinking about this speech. I've been talking about it. I just called my friend today and it was on FaceTime. I played the video again. And this friend was like, I have already listened to this video. I was like, no, no, listen to this video. This is very, very important, especially for artists or anyone who is passionate about anything. If there's something that you love and you're doing it, you're maybe thinking of making it into a career or whatever. It's a very important speech for anyone. So I was thinking of playing the speech, but then I was like, okay, like if you play music, you can get copyrighted. Can I get copyrighted for the awards? And then I Googled it, and it's safe to say that Google was not telling me what I wanted to hear. So there was a lot of legal words, but it was not looking like it's something that I can just do. So I have written down some important parts of the speech that I will be discussing with you today. So Taylor Swift was announced to be like the artist of the year, right? And so she went up, she took the award, and then she started her speech. Now I am gonna read it to you verbatim. I love being an artist. I love writing songs. I didn't think I was an artist when I first started doing it. It was a hobby and then it was a favorite hobby, and then it was what I would rush home from school to do. Um, I can't wait to get back to my guitar and write a song. So this is how she started the speech. Then she went on to say that, like, when I was 12 years old, I had the luxury of spending thousands of hours working at my craft, practicing, making mistakes through trial and error, completely unobserved. Now, we'll get back to all these things. And then she went on. And she was like, that was just me and my craft, which by craft, we all know what Taylor Swift is doing. She writes her own songs, she plays the guitar, she sings, so you get what this is about. So she went on again. She was like, we live in this world where there is so much immediate feedback constantly. You get feedback from everything you share with the world. Everything you post, you get feedback, whether it's good or bad or whatever. I just wanna say, she's she's saying this. If I had one hope for you, I would say, I hope that you get to nurture your hobby and your passion just between you and that craft. And you give yourself time, give yourself time to make mistakes, time to hone your craft. Then she goes on. I am a firm believer that anything you feed your mind, it will internalize, and anything you feed the internet, it will attempt to kill. And I don't want that for your dreams. And then she proceeded to thank everyone. She was like, Thank you for allowing me to turn my hobby into a love, into a passion, into a dream, into a career. And she went on to wish everybody the best. And somewhere between this speech, she said that, oh, I see there is a lot of talented people here, and I guess this is why she went on to give this advice. And she and that's why she finishes with being like, I'm wishing you all the best. Now, let's break this speech down. Because there is so much in this speech. I had this speech when I was going through something, and what I was going through, I was going through a lot of thoughts, I was thinking a lot, and I'm not even kidding. All the answers that I needed, God brought them to me at the right time through this speech. I listened to this speech and I was like, that is everything I needed to hear. That is everything I needed to hear. So, first of all, okay, so she starts by saying she's like, Oh, I love being an artist, I love writing songs. Now, we all have things that we love, you know. You almost at a young age, we all realize things that we love. And sometimes we realize things at like maybe college, or you can even be like a 30-year-old, 40 year old. We keep realizing things that we love. There is no specific edge for you to like be like, oh, I love this. Because there were there are some things that it has become more clear to me as I got older that I really like those things. And sometimes I would sit and be like, oh my god, is this like like people always knew since when they were like a young age or something? Like, is this am I am I being true to myself by just realizing this thing at this edge? But then there was really no time, and you shouldn't really like time stamp things. I've always been saying this. And then she would she also talked about how she didn't think she was an artist when she first started, which is something very, very relatable. Most people don't consider themselves artists, they just consider themselves, uh, this is just something I love to do, this is something that I just enjoy, this is something that uh and when I say artists, it's not only artists. This this could be anything. This could be anything. You could want to be a doctor, you could want to be an engineer, you could want to be uh anything, anything. You could be passionate about serving people, helping people, uh cooking for people, and you know, you could be passionate about anything. And so she was like, it started as a hobby, and then the it be it became like a favorite hobby, and then it becomes something that you're excited to go out and do. And I think it's very important for us to pay attention. Again, I am gonna shove in social media any chance I get. I'm gonna shove in social media here. It's very important for us to pay attention, which is getting very, very difficult by the day due to social media, short form vertical video content, fast-paced content, all these social media apps, they keep on becoming more and more addictive. They are engineered, allegedly, oh my god. In my opinion, they are engineered, you know, you have to you have to keep in mind that the you know there's there's these things about being sued. I don't wanna I don't wanna receive an email from the lawyers at Meta being like, hey Nick, you might want to discuss this in court. So allegedly, in my opinion, allegedly, social media is being engineered to be more and more addictive by the day. Like, I'm not even kidding. I go online, I see the changes, and I'm like, okay, so what do you mean you changed the place where it used to be the DMs? Where if you, for example, there's a particular app out there where like where the place that it used to be DMs, where like everybody wants to check their DMs and me, like, oh, who is texting me, who replied to my story. That place, after a very long time where we uh we have like this mascot memory that, like, oh, this is where the DM is. So that place where there used to be the DMs has been changed and has been replaced by short form video. So if you click that place, because you you know you have this muscle memory, your finger, your brain, you're used to like, oh, clicking that part. And when you click it, you find a quick video, and you're like, oh, this this video ended quickly, and then you go to the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and then you're in this doom scrolling loop. You will like close the app and then you come back, and then you go again into the app because you think you're going into the DMs, but you're not, and then you go there, and then like I feel like it's strategic, allegedly. I feel like it's very strategic move where, like, oh, if we do this, make them get used to this, and then you know, nothing is accidental when it comes to these big businesses, everything has to be passed through meetings and meetings and meetings, allegedly, and so and so it's very, very important for us to pay attention, which is becoming difficult because people are trying to make money off of our attention. Because the more people you have their attention, the more you can charge for advertisement, and the more you can charge for advertisement, the more your company keeps growing and growing and growing. And so it's insane. And so, back to why I'm I was talking about attention in the first place. It's very important to pay attention to the things that get you excited, things that want you to rush home. Like Taylor Swift said, I it would be something that I would rush home from school to do. I was like, oh, I can't wait to get back to my guitar and write a song. Pay attention to those things. What is that one thing that you look forward to? Like, whenever there is that thing, you're like, oh my god, I can't wait. Do more of those things, incorporate more of those things into your life. If it's one thing, put it at the end of the week. Do it more, find friends, find a community of people to do this thing with them. You know, it's very important to pay attention. But then it's like, if you, I feel like if you're doom scrolling, you don't even have the attention to even like sometimes be excited, you know, because you're living in this constant state of like overstimulation where you're like, oh, I'm watching these videos, but then also there's like notifications every two minutes, but then also I know I need to get up and make my bed and then eat. But I also need to go out and get something to eat. But I can't go out because I can go out without showering, and I can just shower without making my bed and and and cleaning my room, and I can do this and this and this and this and this. Where do you have the time to be like, I really feel like doing this? I am excited to go and do this thing, you know? And then she went on to be like, I have the she had the luxury. Please pay attention to the use of the word luxury. I think because I started reading Michael Jackson's book on my phone, Moonwalk, but then I ordered a vintage 80s first edition copy from 1989. I I said this in the previous episode. So when I was reading it, I read the first chapter. There is a part in the book where Michael Jackson says, uh, wait, let me take my phone. Let me find that part. I have to read this to you. I feel like it cor it correlates with what I'm about to say. So, okay, books. Michael Jackson Moonwalk. Okay, so let's go to the bookmarks and highlights. Highlights. Okay, let's go back. Let's go back. Let's go back. Okay, I found it. It's here. When I saw that Taylor Swift used the word luxury off, it just reminded me that Michael Jackson has used the word luxury. And I was like, I hope, I hope I'm correct. Michael Jackson used the word luxury to talk about something that is a little bit related to what Taylor was saying here. So Michael Jackson said, most people have the luxury of careers that start when they're old enough to know exactly what they're doing and why. But of course, that wasn't true for me. They remember everything that happened to them, but I was only five years old. When you are a show business child, you really don't have the maturity to understand a great deal of what is going on around you. Of what is going on around you. Okay, okay, hear me out, hear me out. This is why I love reading books because I feel like it just opens up your mind. I want to repeat a few lines here, especially the part where Michael Jackson says you really don't have the maturity to understand a great deal of what is going on around you. You really don't have the maturity to understand a great deal of what is going on around you. And he's saying that this was a little bit, a little bit of a disadvantage because he doesn't really remember much of his like early, early, early career, right? The same thing can be said about the current state of the world and our attention span in social media. We can say that when you're pursuing a passion, a career, a hobby, or whatever, when you are always on social media and you don't have like a good attention span, you can't really pay attention to things. You really don't have the attention to understand a great deal of what is going on around you. This is true because you're always on your phone. You're you're like, we are always on our phones, we're always on our phones, we're always looking at something, we're always scrolling, we're always immersed in this other world that is uh where everything is either really, really good or really, really bad. Because like on social media, like news are like bad news, or it's like people who are like, wow, must be nice, you don't have any problems. That's what is going on. So you see what I'm saying? It's a luxury to have an understanding of what is going around you, going on around you. And for you to have an understanding of anything, you need attention. You need to be able to pay attention to your environment, to what is going on around you, to what you like. Do you think Taylor Swift would have discovered that she loves playing the guitar? Okay, probably she would have. She loved playing the guitar and writing music if she was like always scrolling on her phone. Probably not. Probably not, you know, and I'm not saying like it's like it's like this is the end, like if you're scrolling. No, obviously there are things that that can be done. Okay, uh, I just thought I should also talk about that. And I really love how I just remembered that and it so happened to fit into this. And okay, so she was 12 years old. Clearly, she can remember at this stage, right? Which is which is great. I'm not saying that if you started really young, it's not good. No, no, it's just I'm just trying to show the different ways of things can be so that you don't end up beating yourself up and being like, oh, I don't have something that I've been loving from a young age. No, Michael started at five years old. Taylor, it was 12 years old. I don't know if she started, but like this is the age she mentioned. 12 years old. For you, you it could be 19, it could be 16, it could be 21, 22, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, whatever. Um, whatever, whatever amount, whatever age. So she says that that she had at 12 years old, she had the luxury of spending thousands of hours working at her craft, practicing, making mistakes through trial and error, completely unobserved. Completely unobserved. I really love that she said completely unobserved. I've always thought this, I've always thought that everybody needs their silent ears. And this is the truth. And I even had Joyce Maya talk about this the other day. Everyone needs their silent ears. Uh, let's take, for example, the most famous person in the world, Jesus Christ. We heard about Jesus when he was 12 years old at the temple when he got lost and everything, and he came back and he was like, um, don't you know that I'm supposed to be at my father's house? We heard about him there. There has not been any mention of Jesus from the age of 12 until when he was 30. Because I think he had he had three years of ministry, right? From from when he was 30, and then he died when he was 33, right? We did not hear anything from when he was 12 to when he was 30. All of his teenage years, all of his early 20s, late 20s, uh, we didn't hear anything. Nothing except that he grew, he grew in windsorm. That's what we are told. That's what we are told. And I've always thought it's very important for people to have silent ears where they are completely unobserved. Silent ears are very important for anyone before they become because before they open up to the world about their craft and the things that they're doing. This is very important. Taylor says that she spent thousands, thousands of hours where what she was like practicing. Okay, I'm imagining Taylor Swift as a 12-year-old kid, practicing the guitar, you know, writing really bad songs, you know, trying to write this way, trying to write this way, trying to write in the morning, trying to write at night, trying, trying to figure out all these things through trial and error. She's trying this and then she fails, and then she tries this, and then she's like, Oh, I learned this. Now I can put this here and this, here, and this, here, and this, here. All this was completely unobserved. She was not posting a day in the life of herself recording. I mean, obviously she couldn't do that, but I'm just trying to relate it to the times that we're living in. I've I've seen people, like I see people online where it's like, oh, come with me where uh I am attempting to have a hundred thousand followers by the end of the year. And I'm like, like everything happens at the right time. You understand? God's timing is the right time. If it's not the right time for you to have that thing, you won't have it. You won't have it. So how do you know? How do you know that this one year is is is like the right time is somewhere within that one year? How do you know that? Huh? How do you know that? Work completely unobserved. Sometimes I see people coming up online and they lay all their dreams on the table and they're like, I wanna be this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and I'm gonna do it. And I don't care about the haters, and I don't care about this and that, and that and this. And I'm like, that is, I'm like, it's actually like it's actually bad for you. It's bad for you. Like, I'm like, you need to have the silent ears. Like, why are you trying to talk? Why are you trying to be public during the silent ears? And when I say public, I don't only mean social media, it can also be with like friends, it can be with parents. I mean, I understand sometimes we need support and things like those, but like I think it's like we need to be very wise, we need to be very wise about who we talk to about our dreams. I, for myself, in my life, I am very careful. I am very careful about who I talk to about my dreams. There are some people in my life who, honey, we will be laughing, cooking, eating, we will do everything but talk about my dreams with you. Why? Because I'm like, uh, I need to, I need this time, I need this time completely unobserved to work on my craft. Okay, and then she goes on and she's like, during that whole time, it was just her and her craft. She's learning, she's making mistakes, she's doing all these things by herself. Then now she comes into like the world that we're in right now. She's like, we live in a world where there is so much immediate feedback constantly. Oh my god, there is so much feedback. I read a lot of memoirs, I read a lot of memoirs about people and they're like the things that they're they'd been working on, right? And it's like for someone to write a memoir, clearly they were not there during the social media era or whatever. And I see, I'm like, oh my god, there is so much issues that are not in your life that are in my life now because of social media. Because people think that going on social media is only bad if you're gonna like get hate comments from people, right? I'm not I'm not telling you that like if you talk about your dreams or if you share like your process or whatever online that you're gonna get hate comments and that's like the concern. No, you might get hate comments and that's bad and that's detrimental, but that's not my concern. My concern is hearing the opinions of all these people who may not have experience, who may not be particularly smart in that area. People saying, like, do you ever meet somebody and you're like, oh my god, you're so weird. Like, I why do you think like that? Now imagine such people are on social media sharing things, right? Everywhere. Like you will scroll. I'm I'm not even kidding. You will scroll and someone will be like, actually, coffee is really good for you. It helps with your heart and this and that and that. And then you scroll the next day and someone is like, Coffee is the worst thing. You don't need to be taking coffee. And then you will scroll and someone else is saying this, someone else is saying this. So people are not aware that all these things that you say, they're all these things that like you hear, they're doing something to you. And like the best example is like, imagine walking down the street, and then there is like there's really lots of people, a lot of people who everyone comes up to you and they say something different. Everyone comes up to you and they say something different. Obviously, if somebody is talking to you, you're gonna relate whatever they're saying to your life, to your life. I don't know. You might hear somebody being like, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I don't think anybody should be wearing stripes. You can hear like somebody say this online, and then you're gonna be like, I don't care. And then the next time you're in your closet, you're just like, I don't wanna wear that stripes shirt. I don't wanna wear this shirt that has stripes, by the way, love stripes, and then you're like, you don't really know because like you don't even really have the attention to even sit and think and be like, why am I thinking this way? But subconsciously, you've taken note because like once you saw the stripes, like your brain got the signal that, like, hey, this is like this, the stripes are not cool, and this and that. And then, like, the next time you're like, okay, like I just feel like it's like they're not cool. Like, I feel like this is how it happens, and it happens with so many things, with so many things. Like, it affects you, it affects also you get a script for how people will think of you or people will talk of you when you're doing something that you love. You understand? That's why we have people are increasingly becoming. Similar. Like you walk down the street and you're like, okay, everybody's in gray sweatpants and art boots. Why are we all becoming similar? Like, where is like the individuality? Where is like, are we is what do you mean we all feel the same way about this thing? Okay, or everybody's in like a certain outfit. And you're like, what's happening? And it's because we we are all being like chaperoned by social media. So we live in a world of immediate feedback. You post a photo, you get likes. If you get many likes, then that means it's good. If you don't get that many likes, then that means it's not really good. I remember one time, right now, I have taken care of you know seeing likes and seeing share accounts or whatever, seeing views. Like I think now I am it's almost a yeah where I don't really know who is viewing my Instagram stories. I don't really see these things. I I tried to combat them because I got to a point I really love going through my own Instagram, my posts, because uh I put the music that, like every post, the music is the music that I am listening to at the time that I am posting the posts. And then the photos are from a certain time in my life. And so when I look at one post, I get to remember the time that I posted it and the time that I was actually doing something that is there because I love photography. It's my creative outlet and I love sharing life. And so every time I go on Instagram, I get really grateful because I'm like, oh my God, I love my life. I really love that I get to have all these amazing opportunities to do this and that. So for me, it's like a personal uh what should I say, a personal board where I get to see how my life is going because I'm always taking photos. It's something I enjoy, you know? And so I look at them and I'm like, oh, I have no reason to feel sad. I am really grateful for my life. Like, this is my life, and these are the things that I have been doing. And I I am so grateful that I have this hobby that enables me to document my life. It's like a win-win. I enjoy the process and I get to document my life. And then it also inspires me to like discover new music because I'm like, okay, this is the time of my life, and like this is the music I was listening to, and and I love it. So I got to a point where I would be like, oh, this is it, this is the good post. I'll be like, this is a good post. And then I'll and then I would look at another post and I'll be like, oh, this is this is this this was not such a good post. And I'm like, what do you mean, good post and bad post? This is my life. What do you mean? What do you mean? And I noticed the pattern was like, every time I would put my photo as photo number one, I would get more likes. And every time I would put another thing as photo number one, I would get not that many likes. And I got to a point where I started putting, and and for me, the way I put photo number one, it had it's different. Like I need for myself and for anyone, like if you go to my page to be able to see a human being, like you see me, and then you see that I eat, and then you see that I exercise, and then you see that I I there's a beautiful sunset and this, and I'm on a walk and I'm traveling, and I'm here and here, and here you see all these things. I wanted to like it, it's a hobby. It's I love sharing life, I love storytelling. And so I got to a point where I started wanting to put more of my photos as photo number one. Why? Because of the feedback, because of the immediate feedback that I was getting from people where people would like my photos more, and I wouldn't really understand because I would be like, okay, like what? Like, so if it's like a sunset, or if it's like uh a view or something that is like on the first slide, like, don't they know that it's me? Or what is going on? Like, why is this? And then I was like, wait, wait, wait. And I love that I can stop myself in my tracks. I was like, no, this is not the way I want to live. There is no, no, this is not the way I want to live. I have no idea who is liking and who is not liking. I have no idea who is viewing. I have no idea. I go there, I post, and then sometimes I stay a little bit. By a little bit, I mean like three hours. I scroll and then I feel bad and then I leave. And um, it's not that I'm feeling bad because I'm scrolling, I just feel bad in the moment because I'm so painfully aware of how not good this thing is for me. And that's like a recurring theme in my life. If I stay up late, it's not a good thing. Because I am not like being there, staying up late, being like, oh, yeah, I'm having fun staying up late unless I'm dancing. But if I'm staying up late, like scrolling or like doing something else, I am like, I am feeling bad every minute that passes by. And uh sometimes I was like, why am I like this? Like some people can do things that are not so good for them and like not feel as bad as I feel, and I realize it's a good thing because then I don't have to keep doing things that are like not good for me. And I've been I've been taking a lot of steps towards this whole social media thing. And I am doing them now. I like every once in a while I share like a little bit, but like I haven't like shared like my full like steps and process that I'm taking to like deal with social media and this whole thing. Again, I guess I need my time completely unobserved, anyways. Which is why we all people always talk about, I always think about Beyonce when I talk about this way. It's like let your work speak for you. You understand? Let your work speak for you. If you really want to share the behind the scenes, share them after your work is done. You know? I think that's the way to go. This whole thing of like share the process. No, no, no, I don't agree. Now, it can work for some people. Again, it can work. And I want to tell you, anytime you're listening to me, anytime you listen to this podcast, I'm not saying that there is only one way to do things. We are very different as human beings, but there is a way that works for most people. Like a big chunk of people, a big chunk of people don't need to share their like process or their dreams or their like whatever they're doing before it's actually, before they've actually like learned enough to be able to handle everything that will come. You understand? And and every time you see somebody, people are always like, this was an overnight success. I'm like, that was not. I'm like, and I'm like, no, that was not an overnight success. That was not an overnight success. People take time, people take ears. Now, are there exceptions? Yes, they're people, they're they're like people who just wake up and like their life has changed. But again, we have different paths. They will have to learn those things as they go, and they might even get to a point where they will have to take like maybe a break to learn some things or whatever. But then most people, most of us, we need time completely unobserved. Anyways, so Tay Swift went on. She was like, you get feedback from everything you share with the world, everything you post, you get feedback, whether it's good or bad, or whatever. Whether you like sometimes you can not get likes, sometimes like, or even when you're watching things, you get the feedback. Like you, when you're watching videos online on the internet, you're getting the feedback. You see a video of somebody saying something, and then you see the likes. Oh, lots of people liked this. And even if you even if somebody has hidden their likes, you can see, oh, lots of people commented, and then you see what other people are saying, and the comments are always contradicting, and then it's this and that, and then now you're like, Oh, it's like changing the way you think, and like you're you're adapting this way. Sometimes I see videos and the comment section, people are like, So, guys, do we like this or not? And I'm like, how about you think for yourself, right? How I've even found myself going with the floor, like something is going on, and I'm going with the floor, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I'm like, wait, now that I think of it, no, that's not the case. That's not the case. I think this way, this way, this way, this way, this. Now, just look, just look at, just look at this whole mess. And I am not unaware of all the amazing opportunities that social media brings. But hey, everything is good when it's consumed in a healthy, balanced way. And then she tells us, she's like, I just want to say, if I had one hope for you, I would say, I hope that you get to nurture your hobby and your passion just between you and that craft. And you know what? I'm here to repeat that. Thank you, Miss Taylor Swift. Thank you so much. I'm here to repeat that to anyone that is listening to this. I hope that you get and that I get to nurture my hobby, your hobby, your passion, something that you love between you and that craft. Discover what parts of this craft do I enjoy? What parts of this craft are a little bit challenged? What parts need more, you know, time? What should I improve? I tried this the other day, it didn't work out well. I tried this, now I'm gonna try this, now I'm gonna try this, all these things, all these things, you're doing them with you and that craft. And I've realized over the years I got to a point where I would not want to be around certain type of people because I would not feel any kind of creative or sometimes intellectual stimulation around them at all, or even just their life was not like was not creatively stimulating for me. I would talk to people and they'll be like, Well, I've just been around, I've just been hanging, I've just been in my room for the whole weekend. And I'm like, oh, great. Me too. But hey, I will come back next weekend and I'll be like, I did this, I did this, I did this. I guess like you have something like, what have you been up to? Well, I've been in my room just sitting. And guess what? People who have just been in their room just sitting, or who have people who have just like not, they're not like they're like, they're not doing things in their life, they start complaining. They start complaining about everything, and then it becomes draining to be around them because it's like they have the a way of thinking that is like, oh my god, like I oh my god, I'm not even kidding. I had people who would drain me to the point I would be so blotted every time I was around that person. And I didn't know. I was like, I was like, it's so weird. Like, why am I blotted? Like, I every I would be like on a random day, I would be blotted, and it would be the days that I would spend time with like uh certain people or a person, whatever it could be. And then it got to a point, one day I was like, what are the odds that every time I feel blotted, I'm with you? And then I googled it. By the way, I'm not saying that this is correct, I'm just saying this is what happened. I googled it. I was like, Can you be blotted around certain people? And they said, Yeah, you can get blotted because sometimes you can get blotted because of stress. And I was like, that is so true. There are certain types of people when I'm around, I feel so stressed. And like, I for a long time I was like, Why am I feeling stressed when I'm around this person? And it was because I was like, everything that comes out of this person's mouth to me is just like, oh shut up, shut up. You've been in the same place for years and years, like get up and do something with your life. Like, why is everything like a complaint and this and that? And like sometimes it can get dangerous where you can like develop like a sense of humor and like a sense of communication style around complaining, around like being negative and all this, and it's not good. Anyways, so that was the case. That was the case, and I was like, I guess no, I guess no, this is not what I want. I want to be around people that will like introduce me to new things, tell me this and that, tell me what they've been up to, like a new thing they discovered, even like for me, the smallest details. I don't care. Tell me your new favorite snack. I don't care, like add something. Let's all add something into each other's lives. When you get to a point where it's only one person who is just adding things, adding things, and the other one is just like there, it gets really exhausting. It gets it gets very exhausting. So I hope you get time where it's like you and your hobby. And like, for example, why are we why? Why why are we insisting to be like you and your hobby, you and your hobby? For example, people don't have to discourage you. It can be as simple as like you tell someone, it's like, oh my god, I've really been loving this, and they can be like, since when? And then you're like, this is weird. Because like the next time you sit with yourself, you're like, yeah, since when? Wait, maybe I don't like this more, maybe I don't like this so much. Maybe well, you could have avoided all that with just being between you and that craft. Or like, I believe everybody needs a certain degree of training before they are able to like face the world with their craft, or someone can give you a reaction of like some people. I was just talking to a friend today, I was brainstorming about this episode, and I I was talking, I was like, I think it's very interesting that like the smallest of reactions from people can like throw you off and cause you to like doubt and go on a spiral. And he was like, That is so true, because there are people who, as soon as you tell them that you're passionate about a certain thing, or your dream, your dream is this and that, they start telling you about other people who tried that and failed. They start telling you, and they're like, Oh yeah, you might succeed, you might do it, you might uh so and so failed, or this and that, or like there's so much. Everybody has something to say, everybody has something to say, and sometimes you just need to be you and that craft. Actually, most times you just need to be you and that craft and learn and learn and grow. Once you are okay to face the world, you will face it. And by the world, I mean it could be you getting to make that a career, or you getting to a point where you're very confident about what you're doing and you can put it out there, or you can this and that. Like, you know, you understand? Like, for example, like your first project. Obviously, you're gonna learn some things from your first project. Now imagine sharing all those mistakes online. Let's go on. And then she says, and give yourself time. Now, if there is one thing that social media is not doing, is giving time. Everything is so fast-paced, everything is so quick, everything is like scroll, scroll, next, next, next, next, next. And if you spend too much time on that, you get to a point where it's like, I have noticed recently where like I will be watching a video, and then I will just pause the video and remove it and like find another one to watch. And then I was like, wait, I actually want to know what they're saying, but why do I just feel like I need to like remove this video and watch another one? And then I do the same, remove this video and watch another one. And I noticed it's because of this whole thing of fast-paced, short form, vertical video content where like you scroll, it's like next, next, next, next, all the time. And because it's fast, it's not slow enough, it's not promoting like this whole like slow down and give yourself time, give yourself time to make mistakes, time to hone your craft. There is so much to learn. I have been in situations where like every single day I'm learning a new thing about a certain thing, and I was like, hey, I didn't realize like this thing is that broad, you need that time. But once you've already been like, oh, you're going around, you're telling everyone, oh, I'm doing this, or I've been doing this and that, or I've been doing this and that, or you're going, you're posting about it, or you're sharing every detail, every time with everyone and anyone. I I don't think it's that good. Actually, sometimes when I talk to people and they're being evasive about like their work or like their hobbies or whatever, I am like, great, that's amazing. I don't think I need to know more. I don't think I need to know more. It's okay. It's okay. And I also feel like people can sort of feel entitled to information because of what? Social media. Because of social media, because everything is online, and people feel like every situation in life needs to be everything is online. Well, it's like people, it's like, for example, people who watch, like I don't I'm not against reviews or anything, but I think I love to go out and find something and experience it myself without actually having to take somebody's review because somebody can be negative about the whole situation, and then they just talk about the negative, and then you carry that with you, and then you go to a place with this preconceived uh reality of a certain negative trait of that place, and then you go there and then you don't really enjoy it as much as you'd have enjoyed it if you just went there without looking at the reviews, you know. And uh, I don't know, it's like, for example, I have a friend of mine who loves to be told. Like he's like, spoiling doesn't work for me, tell me what's gonna happen. And I specifically take certain details that I know are gonna be exciting for this person and I tell them, and I'm like, there's this part where they do this, this, this. And then he's always like, every time I'm watching, I'm just waiting for that part. I'm just waiting for that part. And that's why I don't like people to like spoil things for me or tell me what is gonna happen in a movie or a film because I want to have the whole experience. I don't want to just be waiting for a certain part, you know, which is what people are like kind of like they spend their life like waiting for it to take off, waiting for their career to take off, waiting for like something to be perfect. They they forget that it's it's in the journey, it's in the the the beauty is in the process, you know. So give yourself time to make mistakes, to horn your craft, you know. So she goes on to say, I am a firm believer that anything you feed your mind, it will internalize, and anything you feed the internet, it will attempt to kill. And I don't want that for your dreams. And then she goes on to thank everyone. Anything that you feed your mind, it will internalize. If you feed your mind positivity, your mind will internalize positivity, it will curate a positive environment around your life and your experiences. If you feed yourself like you read about successful people, that's why Michael Jackson and Beyonce tell us that they studied the greats. Study the greats in your field, study the greats in what you love, in what you're doing. Uh read about the the thing that you love. I don't know why. Like every time I ask people, are you read what are you reading right now? They're like, oh, they act like I caught them. And they're like, oh no, I'm not reading, but I want to. And then I'm like, okay. And I had one girl say this one time on the internet and she was like, stop trying to read. I don't remember her name, I would credit her. She was like, stop trying to read Mel Robin's Let Them. Well, if your favorite type of movie is, no, if your if your favorite type of series is, what's the name of the series? It kind of has the same vibe as like, wait, I need to remember. It's a very famous series. I don't know why the name just escaped me right now. Let me let me Google famous medieval series. Game of Thrones. I don't know why I forgot that. Anyways, she was like, stop trying to lead, stop trying to read Mel Robins, let them and forcing yourself and feeling bad that you're you're not reading. If your favorite type of series is Game of Thrones, find books around what you enjoy. That's what I do. The way I buy books, I love book shopping. I was in Warsaw last week. I spent, I'm not even kidding, half the day walking around in bookstores. I even lost my sunglasses in a bookstore and uh I caused a commotion. Actually, not a commotion, actually. I was just like going around telling the the people who work there that I need to find these sunglasses because that because they're so chic and that these sunglasses are so perfect. Like if I wear them, I don't feel like there is darkness upon the world. You understand? Like, I kind of weirdly, I kind of feel like if you take a sunny day and you reduce the brightness just to the perfect amount, that's how these sunglasses feel. And then they found them, and like one of like the the like lens was out, and whatever it's is it called the lens? That yeah, you get what I'm saying. It was out and I put it back and they were just perfect. And I kept on walking around and I went to another bookstore. And the way I find it is like I look at the books, I read the blab, because I also have a lot of books in my room. So once I'm done with the book, I just like go around my room and read the blab of all the books I have. I have like, I don't know, 30, 40 books in my room. And I read the blab and I'm like, wow, that is interesting. I wanna know. I wanna read that. And then I read it. And it's crazy that you can read it. I believe books come to us at the right time. You can read a certain blob one day and be like, I don't want to know that. And you can read the blob in three months and be like, where has this been my whole life? So that's what I do. I walk around and I read the blobs of books and I buy them. And I love buying them around like times when there's like important events in my life. But then I've been trying to be like, hey, I think I have enough books. I need to like chill a little bit. And so that's the thing. Like, read books around what you love, like learn just between you and that craft. You understand? Learn, do it through practice, trial and error. Don't be afraid to make a mistake because once you make it, you know not to make it again. Like, I I will let me think of something. Oh, I will never, I will never try to put a lot of mustard on my sandwich. Why? Because at some point in my life I tried mustard, I don't remember where it was, I tried mustard on something and I hated it, hated it, hated it. Now I know not to do that. I love Dijon mustard, I love honey mustard, but like plain mustard is not my thing. And how do I know that? Because I tried it and now I know not to do it. So take time. So feed yourself positive things. Surround yourself with positive people, surround yours yourself with people that make you like dreaming, make you feel like dreaming big is normal. People who will inspire you. And so anything you feed the internet, it will actually. Attempt to kill. That is so true. It will attempt to kill in one way or another. In one way or another, it will attempt to kill. You might get few likes and then you feel like it's not good enough. You might get bad comments on it. You might see people sharing it back and forth. And now it has cultivated a sense of like you being like, I oh, I'm being talked about. And and and this and that. Oh, what is it about? And then instead of focusing on your relationship between you and your craft, you're focusing on the relationship between you, your craft, and the people, which is a lot. Which is a lot for somebody who's just starting out. And yeah, I I remember I read somewhere that Beyoncé paints, but she doesn't show anyone her paintings because once they see them, they'll start to be like, oh, this is she will she will start to be like, oh, I'm trying to make them good. That's why sometimes I am like, when it comes to make this to making decisions about certain things, I I like present people with like a ready-made plan. I'm like, we're gonna do this, this, this, this, this. Instead of being like, what should we do? And then we have like 60 options, and then everybody is bringing up something and something and something, and then we get to a point where we are not deciding anything. Even getting a lot of likes and a lot of even a video going viral or whatever cannot be very good because now you're gonna start trying to do things in the way that people love instead of the way that fulfills you. You will find your people. The world has 8 billion people. You don't have to curate what you're doing in a way for it to become viral. No, do it in the way that you feel is right and is doing what you want it to do. You will find the people that are gonna love that. And if you don't, they're gonna come someday. So I don't know, this whole thing of like trying to virify your like things, I don't know. I just don't agree with this whole thing. I'm like, how about you do what you love and find the people that love it? Like, you know, it's like when people are like do this, this, this, and it will go viral and do this. This is why people end up like doing things with ChatGPT and whatever. And not that I'm judging anyone, anyways. So we learn, we grow. We learn, we grow. And if you've made some mistakes in the past, you know not to do them. Let them go, forget about them. It's okay. You understand? And like, I just got so much from this speech. I just got a lot from this speech. It's such a broad speech, it starts touching on so many topics, and like she talked about when she was young and how she started, and all in the span of like two minutes, right? So stay safe out there in this world of immediate feedback constantly, in this world of chaos. I hope you have time between just you and your craft and your hobby and whatever you love and whatever you enjoy. Spend time with that thing, you and that thing. Feed yourself good things. Whatever you feed your mind, it will internalize. If you feed yourself negative things, if you feed yourself opinions of people on social media, if you feed yourself what everybody is saying about you and what you're doing and what you love and what your career, these are the people who were like, Oh, I'm studying this because my parents want me to study this, or I'm doing this because, oh, because people say it pays a lot. I'm like, okay, what do you mean? I remember one time somebody was like, Oh yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna study this because it pays a lot. Now, you might not agree with what I'm about to say, but what I think is that okay, it pays a lot, but I are you do you have somebody doing this for you? Uh, because like if it's not something you like, you're gonna be the one doing it every single day for like what, eight hours, ten, sometimes twelve? You're gonna be the one doing this. So whether it pays a lot or it's like, okay, fine, it pays you a lot, but then it's like you will be doing this for 12 hours every single day. Are you willing to hate every single day of your life or to hate ever the activity they're gonna be doing for every single day of your life? Seriously, I just feel like it takes the same amount of faith to believe in what you actually want to do, as the same amount of faith it you it takes to do something that you think you should do, or you think people want you to do, or your parents, or or because it's gonna give you a lot of money, or and you're not so sure if this one will give you as much money. Why don't you just believe that I will do this and it's gonna give me as much money? I just feel like it takes the same amount of faith. If I am gonna be believing that I will do something that I hate and make a lot of money, I might as well believe that I will do something that I love and make a lot of money. Miss Taylor Swift, thank you so much. You are amazing, you're one of the most powerful people in America. We love you and uh thank you so much. And if there is somebody that I'm gonna take an advice from, is I don't know, maybe somebody who is a billionaire from doing what they love, and somebody who can actually make or break the economy of a place based on whether she is gonna do a show or not, and is somebody who can give such strong, powerful, experience-filled speeches. So I love taking advice from the great, which is why I never read any of like the little random books that my mom bought on the way that were written by like God knows who. I would be like, I don't wanna know what Joseph has to say about success or whatever, because I don't want to be like Joseph. Mind you, Joseph being like a random person who wrote the 12-page book on how to be rich with the worst uh cover page in the world. There's a lot of those books in Tanzania, and I would never read them because I'll be like, listen, honey, if you're gonna ask questions about an electric car, you might want to ask somebody who has an electric car. Yeah. Check who you're taking in the advice from. If you see a video online, somebody telling you something, you're like, Do I wanna be like this person? No, so thank you. Actually, it's very ironic for me to say that because I have a podcast and I'm talking about this, but at least you seek out this podcast to listen to it. It's not something that you just found when you were scrolling. It was not thrown at you. We are all here by choice. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I really appreciate you. I love you so much. Every week I look forward to sharing my thoughts. We are human beings, we love to be witnessed. Thank you for witnessing my life as it goes by and um spend time between you and your craft or your hobby or whatever. Love you. Bye.