Good morning,
Over the weekend our little guy came down with a bad cough and he had to go to sick call. While waiting for the doctor to see him, I leafed through my Saturday copy of The Chicago Tribune. The doctor walked into the room and remarked about my paper and asked if there was any good news in there. To both of our surprise, I said yes.
The headline story in Saturday’s paper, titled “Advice from 1,000 strangers,” was uplifting, motivating, creative and unique. The lede kicks off:
“Stuck in a rut, Imran Nuri needed advice.
His college graduation, forced to Zoom because of COVID-19 in May 2020, had been lonely and demoralizing. He then tried to start a nonprofit, but it failed to get off the ground. He trudged forward into his budding life, but even when he found a new job, everything seemed to lack meaning.
The Chicagoan wanted counsel. So he went and found it, over and over again, from America.
In the summer of 2022, the 26-year-old drove a silver Toyota Camry across the United States to ask 1,000 strangers the same questions: What would you tell your younger self that you know now? What did you have to learn the hard way? What do you wish you knew earlier?”
Nuri took an 84-day, 48-state road trip to ask these questions and photograph the participants. He’s since turned his work into a coffee table book, titled Advice From America. He funded the project through Kickstarter and exceeded his goal in less than a day.
Despite the adventures, travails and joys of being on the road, Nuri became stifled with some of the work he’d compiled. After spending countless hours writing and photographing, his findings were “so regularly repeated that Nuri had at first been frustrated. But by the end, he realized the things he was hearing over and over again were each the result of lives lived. The persistent counsel started to seem like universal truths.”
Some of his most common findings were that people wished they’d:
Embraced themselves to become who they are earlier in life
Traveled more
Went to more concerts
Saved more
Graduated
Spent more time with family
Taken better care of their bodies
Enjoyed the moment
Held out hope
Acted as if life is short
In late spring 2015, I spontaneously planned a solo summer Route 66 road trip. I booked a slew of Airbnbs between Chicago and Santa Monica, with stays in Springfield, MO, Oklahoma City, Flagstaff, and Barstow, CA. I spent eight days taking the “old road.” (Special thanks to an app that kept me on the backroads as much as possible.) I don’t know what compelled me to do this. I’d never been a big road-tripper, nor did I have any long-standing interest in the history of Route 66. I think I just knew that at that point in my life, it would have been as easy as ever (no kids, teacher / summers off) to do something like this, so I just did it.
Now that life is fuller and I have more responsibilities, taking a spontaneous eight-day road trip could be a big upheaval. However I can still incorporate the universal truths embodied in my trip (travel more, enjoy the moment, act as if life is short) in other ways. I just might need to be more creative, more bold.
What’s one of Nuri’s universal truth findings that you’re currently doing well? What’s one that you’d like to incorporate? And what could help you take a step toward doing one or more of these things?
Until next time,
Matt
P.S. I’m adding episodes of my podcast to Spotify and Apple. Please have a listen!
Matt- Valuable insights, as always. No matter one’s age, living in the moment is the most important goal to aim for. Thank you for reminding me. Best, Catherinev