I am writing this to my future self as much as anyone else. Don't let the music die. Don't let the weight of the world convince you to go quiet. Keep showing up for the things that light you up. Say exactly how you feel. Stay in the arena of your own life.
I was at a concert recently, genuinely moved by the music, and I documented it. I took video. I was present with the experience and I captured it. And I know some people see that kind of thing and think it's self-indulgent. Let me push back on that.
This is my life. I am the main character in it. Not the only character, not the most important character in anyone else's story, but the lead in my own. And acting like you're the lead in your own life, being a fan of yourself and your journey, is not narcissism. It's health.
What It Means to Be a Fan of Yourself
A fan of a sports team shows up. They pay attention. They remember the good moments. They hold onto them and revisit them when things get hard. They cheer. They invest emotionally because they care about the outcome.
Most men do this for everyone except themselves. They show up hard for their kids, their work, their friends, their teams. But they don't extend that same enthusiastic investment toward their own life and wellbeing. They don't document their wins. They don't celebrate their own milestones. They don't do the things that fill them up because somewhere along the way they got the message that doing things for yourself is selfish.
It is not selfish. It is necessary. A man who is full has something to give. A man who is empty has nothing but resentment and obligation.
Why Documenting Your Life Matters
Music has always been healing and therapeutic for me. Standing in a crowd and feeling a song that means something, that's a real experience. Capturing it, holding onto it in a video I can come back to, that's not vanity. That's a practice of befriending myself more deeply.
Documenting your journey creates a record of the person you've been and who you're becoming. When things get dark and your memory starts curating only the failures, you have something to push back with. Here's who I was on a good day. Here's what I was capable of. Here's the life I built and the moments that made it worth something.
Be a fan of your own life. Show up for the things that fill you. Capture the moments that matter. Befriend yourself more deeply and don't apologize for it.
Don't let the music die.