Truly good things just...come
Plus a preview of Alexandra Hudson's "The Soul of Civility"
It’s Monday! To start off the week, Riley Blanton, my new partner and collaborator behind This Is The Way, has a valuable reminder to share about “good things” and when they come about in our lives. We spend so much energy, blood, sweat, and tears trying to control our world and bring about certain victories. Sometimes…hard work is required.
However, more often than not, things just happen….pieces fall into place….coincidence changes the game. You know the quote often attributed to Seneca, “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity.”
Riley had a dream of his come true recently, and it only came true after he let it go. You could say he switched off his targeting computer.
First, some housekeeping
This Is The Way is on Discord, and you can chat with us anytime by joining the server. Here is your invite URL: https://discord.gg/NPd7jqcA
Have you joined us on YouTube and in your podcast feed? This Is The Way is now doing a show called Walk The Way, where Riley and I take what is learned here on Substack and spin it out into longer conversations about weighty issues. TONIGHT on YouTube (9 PM EST) we’re premiering a conversation with
, author of the upcoming book: The Soul of Civility - Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves. Alexandra is a master at examining politics through the lens of etiquette, but more importantly, civility. Her book lays out why civility is in decline, and what we stand to gain with recentering it in our lives and society.You should pre-order The Soul of Civility before it launches in October! We’ll be doing some more discussion of it between now and then.
"Many of us are climbing the ladder of success, only to find when we reach the top that it's leaning against the wrong wall."
- Stephen R. Covey
Truly good things just come
As a now-retired Star Wars podcaster, I can attest that the potential for access and invitations to Lucasfilm was the ultimate prize in the Star Wars fandom world. It wasn't always my ultimate goal to get the Golden Ticket to Lucasfilm, but I fell prey to this shiny object quite often. I would get very concerned with my reputation and the desire to be validated in my work.
In the wise words of Yoda…..
That's what I did when I hung up my podcasting headphones, over two years ago. And still, life throws you a bone when you least expect it.
There I was, sipping on a white chocolate mocha (with an extra shot, of course) at a Starbucks in the Presidio of San Francisco. I’d just come off six hours of road combined road and flight time. The earthy taste of my coffee blended perfectly with the sweet anticipation of what lay ahead.
Not far from where I sat was the opportunity a much younger version of myself had hungered for….access to Lucasfilm’s headquarters, the beating heart of the Star Wars universe. Outside stands the iconic Yoda fountain, standing as a watchful sentry guarding those halls. This symbol, for those fortunate enough to receive a formal invitation, stood proudly like a pearly gate waiting to welcome a select group of Star Wars fans to an early screening of the upcoming Ahsoka TV series on Disney+.
A curious twist of fate surrounded me. I’d spent the better part of two years ‘letting go’ of my desire for the validation and dare I say, status, brought to me by the Star Wars fan-content creator world. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
This was a “pinch me” moment, surrounded by lightsabers, Ahsoka-Count Dooku-Kenobi-Thrawn, and Anakin Skywalker cosplayers…AT LUCASFILM.
But I felt different. It’s not how I expected to feel. Frankly, this is why I joined Stephen Kent here at This is the Way. I wanted to escape the endlessly polarized and bitter culture of clout-chasing in the very-online Star Wars fandom and instead dive into the philosophical deep end of these great stories. It was the right choice.
But still….only after I had given up on this goal did it happen. Isn’t that weird? Yoda goes on to say in the quote about letting go, that attachment (to a person or thing) is a cousin of jealousy, a shadow of greed. It feels so much better to experience a cool thing when you aren’t tormenting yourself in hot pursuit of it. Good things can just….come.
P.S. I thoroughly enjoyed Ahsoka. You will too.
In case you missed it, some recent publishing from This Is The Way
