I think I finally get it when people say “don’t blink.” You never want to shut your eyes to a part of life. A lot of the time, we look into the future and think about the future constantly, but you never want to shut your eyes on the present, even for a blink. Because the present just goes by so fast. The future goes by so fast. And then when you look at the past, it seems like it was just a blink ago.

A lot of times I think about how old I am, and it doesn’t seem that old anymore. When I was younger, I thought someone who was 30 was crazy old. They just seemed so old. I don’t really think that anymore. Now I look at 18-year-old kids, and they look like kids. Back then, I thought we looked like adults. It’s a weird phenomenon.

I was looking at some pictures of my parents, and they were just so young. Even just 20 years ago, when they were 50—or really in their 40s—they looked young. I’ll be 40 in four years. What the fuck? That’s so weird.

I don’t feel 40. I don’t even feel 30, really. I feel like my brain, my thoughts, and my actions are as pristine as they’ve ever been in my life. I think about when I was a kid, and I can’t remember what I was even thinking about back then. What was my strategy in life? I think it was just trash. It was just nothing.

At some point, I think you hit this sort of peak, and then when you get older, eventually you lose that edge. That’s kind of the curse of generational patterns, and maybe the curse of our people. We ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it’s very hard to pass down that perfect age—when you’re at your peak—and be able to teach your kids while you’re still at your peak.

People are having kids older nowadays, and I guess we are living longer, but I think we’re missing some of that peak-to-peak overlap, which is kind of a bummer.

I remember when my grandpa was really old—Grandpa on Greenside—and I tried to have that sort of heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind connection with him. It’s hard to explain what that is, but I could never quite get there with him. I couldn’t find the connection. It was like grasping for something you can’t really grab.

It’s sort of like when you look into someone’s eyes and you can see them looking back at you. You see the spark, the curiosity, the intelligence in someone’s eyes. I could kind of see that sometimes with him, but then it would fade. Some people don’t ever even get that. Or maybe they don’t know what I’m talking about when I say I see it in other people. And sometimes you don’t see it at all. You look at someone, and there’s just nothing there. I don’t know what that is. It’s weird.

Anyway, my kid Solomon is four. He’ll be five this year. Crazy.

Every year has been tough, trying to figure out how to provide enough for the kids and for us. The economy isn’t getting any better. Everything feels more risky too. There’s sports betting online all over the place now—betting on this, betting on that. It’s like a casino. Not great.

But you don’t want to blink. You don’t want to blink with the time you have with your kids, or the time you have with your loved ones, because it’s just going to be gone one day.

And the most important part of that, I think, is the generational overlap—the peak-to-peak overlap. It’s so important. I hope I can have that for my kids, because that’s the best thing you can do for them.

I’m going to encourage my kids to do this cycle a little quicker. Do it in your 20s. Angela and I were together for nearly 10 years before we got married, and we were just playing around. Maybe we played around a little too much. A lot of people do that now. People are living longer these days, but it’s that peak-to-peak overlap that matters.

I hope that even 20 years from now, when I’m 55, I’m still at my peak enough to pass on that peak-to-peak information, knowledge, and understanding.

It’s weird. It’s a beautiful day out today. It’s May 14th, 2026. How weird. I was born in 1990. Back then there were computers, but they were huge. I remember getting on our desktop computer with AOL dial-up. What a funny thing. I remember getting my first phone, the Nokia brick. You could throw that thing around and it would still work. The only thing it had was texting, calls, and Snake. That was it.

Don’t blink, fucking kids.

And do your best. Do the least harm that you can to yourself. I remember my parents not really telling me not to harm myself, but I think there was too long of a time where I did that—drinking or smoking. It’s not worth it. There are so many cooler things to do in life. I think I just played around a little too much. But we’re making up for it. That’s what you do. You live and you learn.

I just want you guys to learn faster than me. That’s the whole point of parenthood. That’s the whole point of this generational progeny. We try to put you in a better position than we were in when your turn comes along.

My parents did great. I love them very much. I can’t imagine having any other parents. But I think it was me in the driver’s seat, and I messed around just a little too long. Not super messed up or anything, but I fooled around too long. I took it for a drive a little too long off the roads.

Don’t do that. Why even do that?

Just focus on yourself. Focus on not harming yourself or the people around you. Do your best. You’re in the driver’s seat. You can play around here and there, but don’t go off the tracks too much. It’s not worth it.

You’ll probably hear this from everybody. And when I’m saying it to you, you’ll probably think, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, who cares?” But I don’t know, man. I guess that’s the best advice people can give on this stuff. It really hits home when you get older—25, 30. And I’m 35 now. It’s really hitting home.

It’s crazy how fast it goes.

Have kids. Have a family earlier than me. Please. Please, please. It’s what matters most.

And hopefully in the future I can set you guys up a little bit better financially than what we had. Not that money matters that much, but I just don’t want you to worry about it all the time. That’s the big thing. I worry about it all the time. I don’t want you guys to have to worry about it.

Does that even make sense? I don’t know if it does.

Maybe with the way technology is going, people won’t have to work someday. People have been saying that forever. Maybe. We’ll see.

Anyway, don’t blink. Keep your eyes on the prize, whatever that prize is. But I’ll tell you, one of the most important prizes is getting on and off that bus—that’s our family.

A lot of people my age, man, all they do is play video games, sit around, and do things that harm them. Don’t do that. Some people get on the bus, and they’re never getting off the bus. Their line ends with them. It’s gross, man. I hope we raise you so you never look at it like that.

People say, “Oh, the world’s in such a terrible place. Why would I ever bring a kid into this world?” Dude, you have no idea. Maybe it’s better that some people don’t have kids. I don’t know. I don’t want to think like that.

Do your best. Get on and off the bus.

Don’t blink.