Embrace Whimsy

Issue #42

Hello! I’m Aaron Kardell. In my newsletter, I pick one random topic to go deep on and have some disparate quick hits at the end.

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I have a quick favor to ask…

My son will be a sophomore in high school next year. He’s considering starting a business this summer to help people make the Wi-Fi in their homes faster and more reliable with a one-time equipment upgrade.

I suggested that one of the best first things he could do is solicit potential customer feedback.

Could you fill out his survey? It should take less than 5 minutes, and you’ll be entered into a $20 Amazon gift card drawing.

Big thanks to my friend Nate for helping to refine a prior idea we were considering to help us pivot to this one.

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Last night, around 9:50 pm, I went to tell my son good night. I asked if he was going to get to bed soon, and he said he was thinking of staying up to try and see the aurora borealis (a/k/a the northern lights). I knew little about this besides seeing it mentioned in an extended family text thread earlier. I wished him luck and left his room.

As I walked back to my room, I had a sinking feeling... I knew that in the cities, there would likely be too much city light drowning out his ability to see anything cool. I pulled up my phone and asked Perplexity: “I live in Minneapolis. What is the closest place I can drive to that gives me the highest chance of seeing the Aurora tonight?” A few seconds later, it gave me four options, ranging from a 40-minute drive to a 4.5-hour one. I didn’t give it a second thought and mentioned my last-minute plan to Kate. She told me to drive safely.

I went back to my son with my newly hatched idea. He took a minute to think it over and then decided we should go.

Forty minutes later, we were in Fish Lake County Park in Harris, Minnesota. I was surprised to see how many other people were there.

At first, I wasn’t so sure. With a large crowd, there was light from all over: boats, houses, phones, and car headlights. It seemed like it was going to be a bust.

But little by little, the night sky got brighter.

We had heard that cameras might be better at picking up some of the nuances than we could see with the naked eye, so we started snapping many photos.

Things peaked at about 11:33 pm. It was my first time seeing the northern lights, and I was glad we went. My son was genuinely giddy that we got to see and experience them.

I tell this story not to suggest I’m a great dad or anything. Because let’s face it… I’m often not. Instead, it’s a small example of me attempting to adopt the mantra to “Embrace Whimsy” (credit to Bob Goff and Donald Miller for the phrase).

While it was such a small thing to stay up later and drive an hour and a half round trip to check out something my son wanted to see, I honestly don’t think I would’ve had the situational awareness for this just a few short years ago. I was living an overscheduled life, prioritizing work above most things, and I was probably taking things too seriously.

When your life is overscheduled and just outright stressful, it can feel extraneous to fit a fun “distraction” in. Embracing whimsy takes a certain amount of intentionality to give yourself the mental space and the free time to alter course at a moment’s notice.

But last night wasn’t a distraction at all. Spending that time with my son was the highlight of my week.

What do you need to work on this week to better embrace whimsy in your own life?

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This Week’s Quick Hits

• I hinted at it above, but highly recommend checking out Perplexity. While ChatGPT is great for a lot, I find Perplexity to be a very helpful alternative to using Google to find the answer to something. It can digest dozens of current sources in a matter of seconds and serve up an answer complete with links to sources. Thanks to my friend Jim for turning me on to this a couple months ago.

• It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me via this newsletter. It’s been freeing to not approach this as a scheduled task, but rather something to enjoy when I have something to say. Thanks for staying subscribed.

Photos above by me