Last night, I was busy chopping things to make dinner (a clear-the-fridge stir fry, so there was a lot of chopping). Tom brought me a glass of wine and told me he thought we needed a little music.

Sure, I said.
That’d be great, I said.

Until . . .
I heard the opening strains of Hamilton.

No! I said.
I can’t bear this right now, I said.

You need this, he said.
Trust me, he said.

And I do, so I did.

And as the (beloved) Hamilton soundtrack filled the kitchen, I felt . . . like something was melting. My shoulders relaxed. I smiled. I sang. I got a little teary.

Tom was right.
I DID need to hear Hamilton.

So here’s my assignment for all of you over the weekend:
Listen to Hamilton.

  • If you’ve never heard it before, now is a great time to listen for the first time.
  • If it’s been a long time since you’ve listened to it, listen to it now. Again.
  • And if it’s beloved music to you, but you’ve been thinking you can’t bear to listen right now because it would break your heart (this was me, by the way), fight that feeling . . . and listen to it again.

I can guarantee you . . . you’ll feel better if you do!

It’s uplifting. It’s energizing. It’s a story of underdogs winning. (And if you’re lucky enough to have seen it with people you love, the memories alone are worth the listen.) Young, scrappy, and hungry? Heck yeah! That’s all of us right now.

I think that it’s easy – and natural – to feel despondent and disheartened these days. It’s easy to feel like . . . we’re losing everything. It’s easy to give up on things we love. I know . . . because I’ve been doing that myself. But, like my friend Karel says, stop giving advance consent!

It’s time for us to fight — even if it’s just to fight for our own headspace again!

Stop giving advance consent.
Stop giving them space in your head.

Listen to Hamilton!