Happy 2026!!! (holy shit it feels weird to even write that) I plan to continue this newsletter each and every week of this year. I can’t promise that it’ll always be fantastic, but I will make sure it’s never boring. Cheers, let’s have ourselves a year!!! Now onto the good stuff.
So many people live their lives afraid to do almost anything.
They stay inside a tiny bubble they think society created for them. Rules, expectations, invisible lines about what’s “normal” or “reasonable”, but the truth is, most of those walls aren’t real. They’re self imposed.
When I say try everything, I mean everything.
From the smallest things, like paying a stranger a genuine compliment. To the biggest things, like moving to a city where you know no one, or even a country where you don’t speak the language. It means jumping out of a plane. Trying a new activity. Eating something you can’t pronounce. Saying yes when your initial reaction is no.
Some of the best experiences in life sit just outside your comfort zone. Others are way outside it. But you’ll never know how incredible, fun, enlightening, or awe-inspiring something can be unless you actually do it.
I was raised with a simple rule: try everything at least once.
At first, that mostly applied to food. I didn’t have to like it. I didn’t have to clean my plate. But I did have to try it. That rule stuck, and it quietly shaped my life. It created my wide-ranging palate and turned me into a full-blown foodie. Now one of my favorite parts of traveling is the food. I’ll spend anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours researching where to eat in a new town/city. From the most famous spots to the tiny hole-in-the-wall joints only locals know about.
I’ve eaten some truly wild things over the years. At least a dozen meals where I couldn’t even tell you what I was eating. One of my favorite restaurants in the world is a tiny place on Koh Samui in Thailand called Green Bird. It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t busy. But we went four times in three days.
And it’s not just food.
That’s where it started, but I strive to keep that at the forefront of my life in all facets. Getting out of your comfort zone is the key to an incredible and fulfilling life.
Try the dance class.
Take the art workshop.
Compliment strangers.
Help the old lady off the bus.
Travel somewhere you’ve never been.
Ask someone on a proper date.
Jump off a cliff. (Into water obviously)
Do the unreasonable thing.
Life is full of incredible experiences just waiting for you to say yes.
Don’t spend it hiding inside a comfortable little bubble. You don’t want to look back one day, and realize you don’t have any good stories to tell.
-Mack
Agree or disagree, let me know below!