Dance While the Music Plays

Dance While the Music Plays

“We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.”

—Alan Watts

I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot lately.

Growing up, my second grade teacher labeled me a “hurry up kinda guy.”

Always first to turn in the test.

Always moving fast.

That was my issue in school:

“Jon knows the answers, but he’s rushing and making sloppy mistakes.”

Looking back, it’s obvious.

I was bored.

Speed was the only thing that kept my attention.

That carried into adulthood.

I chased anything and everything that let me go fast and soak up all my energy…

If it was physically or intellectually complex, interesting, and fast-moving, I was all in.

A few years ago, I got into a routine:
After work, I’d take my son on our e-bike and blast around the beaches of Southern California.
Speed 3, podcast in, throttle wide open. Why go slow if you don’t have to?

Then, a few months ago, I had an assisted mind-expanding experience.

And a very simple realization came out of it:

I’ve been hammering for 20 years.

Getting into college.
Playing baseball.
CrossFit. Triathlons.
Learning Arabic in 400 hours instead of the usual 2,000.
My old career. My new companies.

One challenge bleeding into the next, without pause.

From the moment my eyes open, it’s pedal to the metal.

Unless I crash from exhaustion.

That’s been the rhythm.

This year, my more successful & smarter than me cofounder Kayvon posted this:

He’s not wrong.
And I still love this part of myself.
It’s gotten me far.

It works.

But lately I’ve been asking:

What if the goal isn’t to get somewhere quickly?
What if the goal is to dance while the music plays?

So I’m trying something different with my son on our rides.

No destination.
No podcast.
No speed setting 3.

Instead, we toss a speaker in the basket, blast some Allman Brothers, and cruise on the slowest setting.

So far, it feels like a better way to ride.
And maybe… a better way to live.

If life is a musical thing, what kind of music are you dancing to right now?

Yallah Habibi,

Jon