(I’m on my annual 2-week blog vacation and will see you again January 4th)
Years ago, my family had gotten interested in this mile/point stuff and I didn’t have anywhere to send them. My mom wasn’t going to spend hours a day digging through Flyertalk. And I sure as hell wasn’t comfortable sending her to any of the sharks disguised as dorks. Even back then, I watched as those clowns put on their costumes and danced around in their bow ties. I knew they were bad news.
So, being the stubborn hillbilly I am…I said, screw it, I’ll just try to do this myself.
In those early days, I hadn’t considered the possibility of people finding MileNerd. But that happened in a hurry. A dozen here, a couple hundred there…it didn’t take long to reach the first thousand readers. Things kept growing even though I hadn’t planned for an audience. So I asked some of those people why they were coming back every day. The answers varied, but it usually came back to the same 3 things…
- A lack of fluff. My focus on the best deals in the fewest words was simple. The blog was useful and easy to read. Readers responded to that.
- Enjoyment. People (for whatever reason) liked my personality and felt like they knew me. They liked how I made them laugh.
- Trust. People felt I was being honest with them. They were somehow able to realize I looked out for their best interests. In those early days, they were used to blogs being written like corporate memos and had been searching for something different.
I realize it more with each year that passes. I see it everywhere. People are tired. They’re tired of the bullshit at work…in their relationships…in their own heads. Maybe you’ve noticed how a walking Saturday Night Live sketch named Donald Trump is actually a contender for President. Think about that. The host of The Apprentice could actually become the most powerful man alive because people are that starved for someone to be real with them. The world is so sick of bullshit that now it’s even taking this strange, twisted, toupee-wearing joke seriously. Because “at least he’s real.”
But he’s not.
And neither are you.
It’s hard to be real. Most of you are comfortable admitting that. You know it all too well. It’s why you’re starved for little doses of realness – because, deep down, you know you’ve lied to yourself in the biggest ways. Who you are, where you are, and why you’re there.
We are a world of certified, licensed bullshit artists.
We all realize it at different times and in different ways.
Most of us will never be brave enough to be truthful in the ways we need most. We’ll never be as powerful as we could have been. We’ll never be as successful as we should have been. We won’t find our bliss. We will squander our potential because, when it really comes down to it…we won’t be real enough to break out of our boxes.
So we find comfortable little pockets of realness. Maybe you tell yourself you’re real because you don’t hold back your opinions. Or maybe you think you’re real because you’re not scared to be tough on yourself.
Or maybe you write the MileNerd blog and you’re “real” because you can call a spade a spade.
Really?
A few years ago, I was seconds away from dying. Getting thrown around like a rag doll…alone…deep in the Atlantic Ocean. It was over for me. My girlfriend and everyone else at that Puerto Rican beach thought I was dead. But something interesting happened out there. The never-ending thoughts that circle around in my head and seem so critical…well, for the first time, they went away.
Poof.
I literally needed to be fighting for my life in the middle of the ocean to be real for a minute. The small, limited ideas of who you are. That’s what you protect more than anything. Sure, you love your spouse. And if you have kids, of course you’d die for them. No question. But, more than anything else, you are absolutely obsessed with yourself. With your identity. That’s what drives you. You are driven by bullshit.
My point is this…
I hope you travel.
I hope you go on adventures.
You never know what miles and points can lead to.
Be an explorer in the world and within yourself.
That’s what I wish for you next year.