Uncle Kiet, you haven’t peaked…you are coming up. -Avery (my niece)
A little backstory.
My progression into Instagram content creation has always been heavily influenced by my now college freshman niece, Avery. We believe it was because of her algorithm that an Emma Chamberlain YouTube video came across my feed, and I was immediately hooked. The choppy editing, the carefully picked stylistic music, and how she made doing nothing something. At the time, I thought the videos to be so esoteric but have since learned that this format has been copied countless times by YouTubers, and now me. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, my niece’s influence, or rather her approval.
The target audience for my posts for the past four years has not been my followers but in fact, just one follower, my niece. She is the only algorithm I hope to get correct, and to illicit a response from:
ur my idol, kills it every time
best uncle ever, I love you
caption made me tear up
THE BLONDE 🔥🔥🔥coolest uncle ever
And then… this recently came through.
AND she followed it up with a FaceTime call!!!! A Gen-Z’er FaceTiming a Gen-X’er! Folks, surely you understand how groundbreaking this is. If so, then you understand why I might have felt that I peaked at that moment. And that is the backstory for Uncle “Kiet, you haven’t peaked…you are coming up.” I do need to give credit for one comment that was a very close second from a former student of mine, Robert:
Go off King.
Helping the Universe Help Me
I recently listened to this podcast and it was everything that I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. As a recovering biohacker, I still obsess with this notion of trying to achieve optimum health and optimum living. I’m not sure who else needs to hear this but you don’t have to be optimum in health to live a long life. Dr. Tommy Wood makes some good points: for a lot of things, we don’t even know what optimal is, and the science has not caught up; if you strive to be optimum, then being suboptimal might cause you stress, which in turn, is not good for your health; and if you lose joy from say eating because you are so stressed about eating optimally, the lack of joy in your life comes at a cost. Listening to the podcast whilst riding my bike was gold but it was what the podcast incited in me to muse was the real value.
As is often the case when I am listening to podcasts or reading, my mind begins to wander and the musings come out. I thought about how good of a start I am having to 2024, and then I made this connection that this good start is due to me making decisions/choices that allowed the Universe to send me down this good path. For example, it was me who decided to take the trip to Bend, Oregon on the first of January; and while there, the Universe sent some good people my way as well as a good community. It was me who decided to listen to the Tommy Wood podcast, which in turn helped the Universe send me this message about not obsessing over being optimum. In fact, as I rode my bike the last two days here in Medellín, I kept telling myself that I don’t have to have optimum fitness to have a good bike ride. So, I guess my point is that I realized that the Universe often does not hand me things, and that my good start to 2024 is the good that I created for myself. You feel me?
Triggered Traveling in Colombia
I am currently in Colombia for a wedding, Cartagena and Medellín, to be specific. I could go in a lot of direction with this topic, from Devil’s Breath and the drugging of foreigners in Colombia to Digital Nomads that have flocked to Medellín, or bring up the history of Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels that ruled this country (I can’t go into it because I don’t know much about it). But what I want to talk about is how I am triggered when I visit a country where the wealth gap is huge or where there is a confluence of extremely rich tourists with poor locals. I’ve experienced this in Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, the Red Light District in Amsterdam (though this scenario is different and more about exploitation), and now Colombia. As I move about in this country (and the other countries I listed), I see wealthy foreigners down here exploiting the people, the lifestyle, and the land. But I also see the local people exploiting the tourists. For example, I am often approached by locals hard selling me things that I don’t want. I always find myself asking, does this type of hard selling ever work? And why do they ALL do it? My theory is that these are desperate people and when we are desperate, we do things that don’t necessarily make sense.
I don’t have an answer for you on how to decrease the exploitation. But I have figured out what I need to do so that I am not triggered by it. I try to remember that I am interacting with human beings, and like all human beings, I need to do so with compassion. And sometimes it takes a lot of compassion to repeatedly refuse a hard-selling vendor, who might even be grabbing me and won’t let go (as often was the case with me when I was in Vietnam, find me in person and I’ll explain why). I also think about what a dollar means to me and what a dollar means to the local people, and I spend/pay/tip accordingly. And in some instances, not often, I have to advocate for the locals (drunk bro’s in Thailand, IYKYK). Speaking of advocating, a bit of me is happy to read that these drunk bro’s are getting a taste of their own medicine because the women they are exploiting are now drugging them and robbing them. There, I said it.
So, 2024 energy. It’s going well and the practicing Buddhist in me is constantly reminding myself don’t become attach to it. I just read Jamie’s In the Know Substack about the Comfort Crisis, and how it is important that we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations. I’ve had a great time on this trip meeting many people that I instantly liked. And deepening my friendship with David and Iris. I wonder when we will have our first fight? These two have become very special to me and now I know we travel exceptionally well together! *I should qualify this and say that they are way less boujee than me when it comes to travel so this very well may be the cause of our first fight.
What?!?!?? You’re still here reading? Okay, then I will reward you with my tips on Colombia vetted with my aesthetics.
Skip Cartagena (or 1-2 days max, if you want beach/water go to Hawaii)
I wish I had done Bogotá or see the glacier in Colombia (yes, there is a glacier near the equator)
Definitely do Medellín! So to answer your question, David, yes, I would come back.
Definitely ride bikes. I’ve never felt so safe weaving in and out of city traffic. Unlike Americans, I got the sense that drivers here actually look out for cyclists, are not annoyed by them, and know how to share the road. The roads are in good shape and you better like climbing.
Eat! I ate so well in Medellín, and there were so many food choices. When traveling, I stay on the healthy side by targeting vegan places because I know the ingredients will have less bad fats and oils. Can recommend Real Vegetal!
I felt safe 90% of the time but be aware that there were people in the wedding party that were robbed from their accommodation, held up at gun point, and several locals told me the police can be corrupt.
I will leave you with this vibe.
Wow, I loved reading this and getting to spend more time with you on the trip Kiet! I’m energized by your passion of sharing with your experiences and thoughts with your world. As someone that’s normally petty tight-lipped about my life and feelings, I appreciate your openness and am inspired by your example!
What great memories. It's amazing how that little clip of us meandering in Cartagena made me feel like I was there again.
I was catching up on reading newsletters on the three (!) flights back home, including this one from the New York Times about midlife:
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=18&emc=edit_hh_20240125&free_trial=0&instance_id=113473&nl=well&paid_regi=1&productCode=HH®i_id=69414148&segment_id=156429&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F085b07db-ad3e-5dc2-9e08-3a454731fcaa&user_id=91e23302e677ca5116e5a0071e28cb50
It reminded me that midlife is a different kind of "coming up" with all kinds of unexpected wonders and comforts. The newsletter instructs us to invest in our friendships. I'm glad that we have.