20 Subscribers!
Savoring the moments that most let glide by
It’s either dumb luck or poor planning on my part that, immediately after launching this newsletter, I now find myself submerged in one of the most stressful weeks of my professional life. So I will be mostly “away from keyboard” until this weekend. Nevertheless, I felt it valuable to take a moment and recognize that I have 20 subscribers. You read that right - 20 big ones!
I can’t believe that there are 20 of you who have made the decision to sign on to a continued stream of my writing - and 5 of you are even paying! I think it’s morally fortifying to take stock of moments like this. I know that by any modern “engagement metrics,” 20 subscribers should mean next to nothing for most people. But I simply don’t believe it! In fact, I think most people - including a lot of the most prolific Twitter personalities and Instagram influencers - would love to be together in a room with 20 people right now.
What a grand blunder of our time to forget the value of 20 people. Do you know what it feels like to have 20 people listening to every word you say? It feels like your birthday party. That is usually the only time that happens. The idea that the electricity between real humans sharing real space can be replaced by pithy exchanges in 2D online space should be laughable, even though now it’s widely and lazily assumed to be “just as good.”
It’s not just as good. I’m not saying that following me on Substack is somehow more real and immediate than TikTok, or anywhere near comparable to a late night chat on a back deck, but I can say - from experience garnering a not insignificant social media following in my past - that the mindset you have about “growth” means everything. If 20 isn’t good enough for you, then 200 won’t be either. Neither will 2,000, 2 million, etc. So even if we aren’t in a room together, please forgive me if I train my mind to imagine that we are.
Laugh if you want, but I am celebrating this landmark and sending love and appreciation to you wherever you are. I am very excited for things to come as we sit together in this room and eat small squares of sheet cake with plastic forks. Like any good American birthday party let us share openly like friends.
cheers!