Sometimes I don't play music in my Airpods

In partnership with

Happy Sunday and thank you for opening this week’s #TheLifeofJLOWE newsletter!

Last week I let you in on the secret to balancing many things at once, and excelling in them too: the “can-do” attitude. If you missed that article, be sure to go check it out on thelifeofjlowe.com!

Before I get started, I have a bone to pick with you - you guys didn’t click the ad last week!! Here’s another chance:

Seeking impartial news? Meet 1440.

Every day, 3.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture, all in a brief 5-minute email. Enjoy an impartial news experience.

Join for free today!

👆️ That one right there - click it!

Music or no music?

If you know me personally, you’d know that I’m a musician, and that music has always been a big part of my life. Funnily enough though, when it comes to my run club - Sweat & Salty Run Club - one of the things I encourage runners to do is to NOT wear headphones.

This is primarily for safety to ensure that runners are aware of their surroundings on the road, but in many ways, it’s also to allow them to tune into other runners and their own thoughts.

For me, I’ve found that being alone on a run with no music allows me to think through problems and also use the time to pause and be grateful for the ability to even move my body in the way that I am in that very moment.

In that same vein, no headphones means that your ears are open to conversation with other people. “Headphones-on” 🎧️ to me signals that a person isn’t listening, so even though personally sometimes I won’t even be listening to anything when I have my Airpods in, I have to catch myself and take them out because of the outward signal that it gives to the people around me.

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

Why do I forget about music sometimes?

Even though I’m a music lover, sometimes throughout the day, I forget about music. Sometimes, I’ll drive in silence, or other times I’ll have my Airpods in and not play anything.

Then, like it’s rocket science or something, when I play music, I all of a sudden get a rush of happiness. Sometimes I’ll already be connected to the bluetooth and it’s as simple as hitting the play button. Once I do, it’s like I re-discover music all over again and re-discover this euphoric feeling that music gives me when I actually sit and take it in.

Every single time I get that feeling, I say to myself “Wow, music really is great.” Then the next thing I say to myself is “How could I forget about music??” 😳

Then I realized, it’s not just music

Music is one of those things that you can find pretty much everywhere. For me, sometimes it’s the sound of an alarm blaring in a specific rhythm or the sound of someone tapping their foot or maybe even the microwave when it beeps. It’s everywhere, once you have the ear to recognize that it is.

Recognising that I was forgetting to listen to music sometimes made me think about what other things I might be forgetting about too. If it’s so easy for me to forget about something that such a big part of who I am, I thought, then what things that are “less-important” to me am I forgetting about too?

And that brings me back to running with no headphones.

I notice the leaves on the trees and bushes and how intricate the patterns are. I notice the colours of the sunrise and throughout the day, I notice the way the light changes as the sun moves across the sky from morning to the evening. I notice the buildings that I run past, and I notice the mountains in the background as I run too.

I notice that, with just a ^little extra focus on observing and being present, like it’s rocket science or something, I all of a sudden get a euphoric rush of happiness just from experiencing the world around me.

Being able to step into the present and remember the little things that we have that can bring us joy - whether it be music, the sunrise, plants, mountains or even other people - allows us to re-discover the beauty of the things that we sometimes take for granted because we see them every single day.

Conclusion

Forgetting about music doesn’t mean forgetting it exists. It means taking it for granted.

Sometimes, we get used to having access to beautiful things like music and it makes us forget how beautiful they are.

Sometimes we forget how beautiful the things around us really are, and as humans, we’re always chasing that first-impression feeling that we got from something. As we get used to having something in our life, we experience diminishing marginal utility (to use a term from my Economics degree 🧠 ) which means that things lose value to us over time as we consume them.

But this week, I challenge you to re-discover music. I challenge you to re-discover the sunrise. To re-discover the leaves, the buildings, the mountains, the movement of the sun. To re-discover people.

It’s so easy to get caught up in work, play, gossip, arguments or whatever it may be, that we forget the beauty of the things and especially the people that we have around us. Shake that up a bit. Remember how you felt when you first met one of the people that you’ve been working with for a few years now. Remember the first time you heard your favourite song.

Remember that at the end of the day, it’s finding joy in these little things (that are free btw) that is the real way to finding happiness.

And one last thing - don’t wait until it’s gone to re-discover it’s beauty. Whatever “it” may be, cherish it while you have it.

Nothing is permanent. Remember that always.

Until next Sunday,

Justin