I feel like it started in 2016 when we elected a nontraditional presidential candidate. Then it found a resurgence in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, and with it came plenty of uncertainty and fear. These never-before-experienced events has prompted countless Tweets, memes, and now Threads posts with the sentence above, possibly as a way of injecting some humor into an increasingly chaotic and hard to understand world we're living in.
After recovering (ever so slowly) from my recent procedure to remove an abscess from my groin, I have returned (again, ever so slowly) to being productive.
I recorded my first ever podcast with a dear friend and personal hero of mine.
We're about halfway done recording the audio book version of Finding Good - hope to have it ready by end of summer!
This past weekend I joined some beloved cycling pals for my first bike ride in over a month; it was painful, but worth it.
And with the guidance of some close friends and confidants, I have a completed business plan for the first time in my life.
And then the weekend happened.
I never believed I'd live in a country - or, during a time period, for that matter - where an attempted assassination of the president of a first world nation could happen.
If you're reading this and expecting a joke, jab, or some form of jeering commentary, you won't find it. If there is in fact a creator, I believe everyone is entitled to defend their case to be included among the favored ones in the afterlife and that it's not up to me, regardless of how I feel about it, to judge someone else's acts or life.
But I did want to comment on "unprecedented times." Every moment that we have the privilege of living is unprecedented because we've never before experienced what lies in our future.
I have the benefit of having endured multiple attempts on my life, so every day I am reminded of how precious it is. Which is why I get frustrated when I see the masses focus on the most trivial aspects of our day to day lives instead of intentionally seeking out remarkable individuals and experiences with which to celebrate them.
To me the only sustainable form of social currency is kindness. And I've witnessed countless examples, just in the last few weeks, of people being kind and generous in ways I could have never imagined.
Community members in Louisiana raised enough money to allow a 90-year old US Air Force veteran to finally retire.
My lifelong favorite actor Michael J. Fox joined Coldplay at the Glastonbury Music Festival and played with the band in front of thousands of adoring fans - watching it brought me to tears.
Some friends hosted a local drive at a foodbank here in Austin and helped feed countless individuals in need.
And in my own life, I was overwhelmed with uplifting messages as I recovered from surgery.
Each one of those actions, and countless others, were all unprecedented. Yet each one happened because inspired individuals recruited others to effect positive change in the world, each in uniquely impactful ways.
In the same way that human behavior, action, and language can divide us, the same functions can also bring about progress and change.
We're all living in unprecedented times. None of us know what tomorrow might bring, but we are more in control of our future than we think.
Be positively selfish, surround yourself with good people, and do what you can to make the world a better place.