Macklemore

by Travis Hellstrom

I'm always late when it comes to hit songs, I love them six months or a year after they are popular.

For instance, I listened to Thrift Shop for the first time this summer when my sister introduced me to it. After listening to it for the 10th time that day, I finally figured out what the fuss had been about all year. The video was hilarious, the saxophone loop never gets out of your head and the topic is awesome. Who doesn't like thrift shopping?

The artist, Macklemore, had a really big year. He is an independent artist and as you can see in this "six page long" letter it's been a year that changed everything for them. I encourage you to read the article. It gives you a unique glimpse into the fast-paced and confusing world of music and it also made me appreciate the dilemma every artist faces: how do I do what I love without selling out?

In Macklemore's case his rise started with a fun and quirky song Thrift Shop, moved to Can't Hold Us, and then landed on Same Love which he says he "believed in more than any other song I’d ever written." It took a political stand on the issue of same sex marriage and made music part of the conversation.

My favorite part of his letter is the end,

"With all those accolades listed and experiences etched into history, the most meaningful and fulfilling experiences have come from being on a stage in front of the people that got us here. You all. There are the fans that will hop onto the Thrift Shop bandwagon when it rolls through, and the people that will still be here when it leaves. You are the people that are still reading this novel after 6 pages (ha!). I have you guys to thank. You’ve made this year what it is, and I will never be able to find the words to properly articulate my gratitude. I can only give you everything I have in me, night after night, and hope that when this all slows down a little bit, I’ll have enough courage to write about this insane experience. I love you all."

Thrift Shop

Can't Hold Us

Same Love

Writing

by Travis Hellstrom

I began writing online in 2005 using blogger.

It was a wonderful experience and made a big impact on my life.

Writing online helped me explore my thoughts and experiences in a way I hadn't before. It also taught me that I enjoyed creating things online and sharing them with people. That is still true today.

Advance Humanity

I named my first blog Advance Humanity because, as I wrote in an article in 2005, it helped "define my principles, my values and in someway it helps define me." It's fun and admittedly a little embarrassing to look back at those articles from 8 years ago and remember where I was when I was writing them.

At the time I was in college trying to wrap my mind around my future. Medical school loomed ahead and a perfectly made path stretched out before me. Even though I was president of the pre-med honors society at the time and had done well enough on the entrance exams to be accepted into medical school, it was a path I chose not to take. I chose Peace Corps and, in some ways Advance Humanity, instead.

Growing

I wrote something in that entry that still strikes a chord with me,

"Stephen King used to have a desk in the center of his study so that he could go in and write for hours at a time. The huge problem with that, which he wrote about in his book On Writing, is that he was using life as a support system for writing. It’s the other way around, he said. Writing is a support system for life. Life is the goal, the adventure and the journey. Medical school isn’t, writing, music, none of that stuff is. I am living to live, to experience life fully in my own way, to grow in my own wisdom, and to learn to love better."

I like that.

I am still growing and I still enjoy writing.

I look forward to sharing that for a long time to come.

Incidentally, Advance Humanity is still growing as well.

I'll write more about that next time.

Butterfly

A Quick Guide to Being Grateful

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." Epicurus

by Travis Hellstrom

It's so easy to get caught up in want. It's also easy to forget to enjoy what we have.

Whether it's getting a new computer, moving into a new apartment, or simply going to a pizza place for dinner, it's easy to get super excited about something and then forget to enjoy it once we have it.

Gratitude is a way through this.

I love how Epicurus says, "remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

Things I Only Hoped For

There was a time not too long ago when I dreamed of Advance Humanity becoming something great that would outlive me. I wrote it in a makeshift will during Peace Corps because I felt so strongly about it. In only a few short years, it has started to take shape.

Advance Humanity is a now registered benefit corporation in Vermont, on it's way to becoming a certified benefit corporation, and we just launched a new website this month. We have a long way to go, but I can honestly say this is one of those things that I could have only hoped for years ago. Add on top of that getting married, getting through my first year of graduate school and helping run an amazing organization in Mongolia and the list of things I'm grateful for really takes off.

Appreciating Where We Are

One exercise I like to do with my wife is to ask a series of questions:

• Do you remember where we were one week ago?
• One month ago?
• One year ago?

When you remember each time, think about:

• The place you were physically and emotionally.
• What you were thinking about on a daily basis.
• What you were worrying about at that time.
• What your dreams were at that time.

This takes several minutes for each time period and it's important to step through each of them.

In our case recently it was easy to forget that it was only a week ago that we moved into our new apartment, a month ago we had just come back to Vermont, and that a year ago we had just landed in America.

The point of the exercise is reflection, but I always feel grateful after I do it (without even intending to).

Give it a shot yourself, either alone or with someone you love, and see what happens.