Level Up
Results are in: Doritos, Twix, and Oreos are the triumvirate of preservative-laden, artificially-flavored snacks! In the process of reviewing and validating votes, we admit that we wrongly misjudged Nutter Butters, which are a sweet and salty revelation. Caro, Josh, Jeremy, and Jesse, THANK YOU for a new guilty pleasure; y’all are NUTS! 🥜
Food for Thought
When you can’t go anywhere, there’s nothing like a blast to the past with teenage rom coms, where all the high school students look older than your parents. We’re talking about stuff like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Never Have I Ever, and The Kissing Booth (playing at a Netflix near you). The dorky girl and the hot senior varsity jock miraculously fall in love, and even more miraculously, this academically apathetic senior gets accepted into an Ivy League university, which tests the relationship with long-distance, leading to a sequel.
(Note from Jay: For the record, I haven’t watched any of these corny movies.)
Sounds cheesy and even unlikely, but we celebrate high school as a coming of age and possibility. While we were walking through Golden Gate Park, we saw cars decorated with red and blue balloons as students received their diplomas at a drive-through graduation for Jen’s high school alma mater, St. Ignatius (Go Cats!). Commencements are about transitions, and while we’re not upperclassmen anymore, we are the Class of 2020 in the school of life, navigating change to level up in unprecedented times.
Looking back, we thought we’d share a few lessons we would’ve told our high school selves to get to our next levels:
Focus on making good friends, not pleasing people: “You'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you,” investor Warren Buffet said. Invest in depth over breadth when choosing, building, and committing to relationships.
Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize! You might not get everything you want when you want it without compromise. But, deciding on your top one to three priorities will allow you to creatively build a life around your most important values and commitments.
Make the pie bigger: There’s always going to be someone smarter than you and someone less smart. Our uniqueness means that we aspire to different things, and fortunately, success is infinite. Instead of competing for the same slice or eating a bigger one, make the pie bigger for everyone.
Keep learning: No one can ever take away your education and your ability to express your mind. Build your knowledge, explore new learning modalities, and develop your voice, whether it’s through the spoken word or your own language, like dance.
Enjoy the detours: Most people are biased towards the most direct route because going fast means you can get to more places. More often than not, you need to go slow to go fast and far. Embrace the detours and the failures because they build character to traverse all distances and terrains.
Better Together
What’s been going on? Feel like you need someone to talk to, or just send good vibes your way? Whatever way you’re feeling, we encourage you to fill out our weekly connection card (anonymously, if you prefer) so we can keep you and your loved ones in our thoughts and prayers. We read every submission, and reach out to connect when it’s appropriate. Or you can feel free to reach out to us directly by replying to this email (or texting one of us, or whatever medium you prefer). We can’t wait to hear from you!
Soundtrack
CAUTION (read: don’t judge!): The following songs are contagious earworms, but are not representative of our taste in music. (Okay, maybe just a little bit.)
“Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles
This tune has gone in One Direction, and we haven’t been able to shake it out of our heads. Enjoy this song of summer 2020 with a watermelon slice or a beer.
If you’ve got a more savory tooth, check out one of Jen’s go-to workout jams. It’s especially motivating for seven minute planks and push-up challenges with your gym bros (*cough* Bridget *cough*).
“How You Like That” by BLACKPINK
As a trained classical dancer, Jen isn’t particularly impressed with the K-Pop group’s moves. Jay, a self-taught hip hop dancer, continues to be impressed with the dance talent YG Entertainment (the company responsible for BLACKPINK, BTS, Big Bang, and other legendary K-Pop groups) continues to put out. We’ll let you decide.
For the full list of songs included in our newsletters, click here.
As always, please keep in touch! We’re so lucky to have seen so many of you in the months since we’ve returned, and we hope to keep seeing even more of you with each passing week. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and are open to a socially distant hangout, just holler! And, don’t hesitate to shoot us emails, texts, chats, or video invitations—you’re all the best part of our days!
Love,
Jen & Jay