Vol. 4, Issue 13: Love The One You're With

How Sabrina Carpenter Showed Me How To Find Joy In The Everyday

I said this on Instagram, but I’ll say it again: Happy Sabrina Carpenter Day to all who celebrate*

*Man’s Best Friend out on all major music platforms today

People ask me pretty frequently why I like Sabrina Carpenter and her music so much as a 48-year old dad. And that’s a reasonable question to ask, I suppose. I think a lot of people assume it has less to do with her music and more to do with the fact that she’s young and pretty and blonde. And again, I suppose that reasonable. But here’s the thing:

Those things may be true. But that’s not what draws me to her. Her music, I think, is good - I don’t think there’s any specific debate there.* I really enjoy listening to it. She’s got a lot of real bops. She’s an extraordinarily talented woman who can play more than one instrument and has an absolutely beautiful voice. But really, that’s not entirely what draws me to Sabrina Carpenter either.

*Here’s a very hot take: I think “Please, Please, Please” is the best pop song of the last 2 years

No, what draws me to Sabrina Carpenter can be pretty easily summed up in one word: joy. She is a woman who exudes joy and I am manically drawn to people who demonstrate that level of joy: in their life, in what they do, in how they present themselves. I love joyful people and it makes me want to engage with them in whatever way I can. In the case of Sabrina Carpenter, that means listening to her music, it means watching her on Instagram and it means paying an exorbitant amount of money to go see her in concert at the Crypto.com Arena* in November.

*How much longer do we give this name as a real thing? A year? Two?

There’s a certain magic that happens when someone genuinely loves what they do. You can feel it in their energy, the way they show up, and how their work resonates with others. It’s not at all manufactured. It’s authentic joy, and it’s contagious.

Beyond the success of her music, what really stands out is the joy she brings to her craft. You can see it when she’s performing live, whether she’s belting out “Juno” or leaning into “Espresso”, she’s not just going through the motions. She’s having fun. And the audience feels that.

It’s not just on stage. In interviews, in her interactions on social media, even in off-the-cuff moments, Sabrina shows up as her authentic self*. That consistency, her joy, wit, and passion being the same across every medium builds a kind of trust with her audience. It’s why so many people are rooting for her: because she’s doing what she loves, and we can see it.

*There’s an interview she did with Colbert where she was talking about how they told her backstage to not worry about cursing, and she told him that usually people are telling her not to curse, and when she came out ready to say whatever came to her lips, she looked around and said the Ed Sullivan Theater looked a little like a church, so she was uneasy about cursing because “Jesus is here” - and that’s one of those silly interactions where you can’t help but like her

There’s a lesson in that for all of us.

Work can sometimes (read: a lot of the time) feel like obligation or duty. But when we have the space to seek out and to find joy in what we do, when we connect with the parts of our job that energize us, we show up differently. People notice. Clients, colleagues, and teams can feel the difference.

As I go through the continued work of trying to find my footing in building a business or investing the work I do with non-profits or the content that I create in podcasts or these rambling, sometimes incoherent newsletters, I take a moment to remind myself that my mere existence is a gift. That what we get to do every day when we sit down at our desks or whatever can be joyful sometimes or interesting or fun or whatever. And that it also enables us to go out and seek joy in other facets of our lives.

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that this is something that you can snap your fingers and make happen. It certainly doesn’t mean every day is easy or that the challenges magically disappear. But what I will say is that like anything else, it’s a practice. It’s about building new muscle memory. It’s about taking a moment to remember that small actions can create large outcomes.

And it does mean that when your work is fueled even in a small way by genuine passion and love, it’s far more sustainable. It’s far more inspiring. And it has a huge ripple effect that goes well beyond you.

So when I sit and think about how to put this into practice, what the action is that gets all this started. Maybe the question to ask is this: Where can I bring more joy into what I do?

Because if Sabrina Carpenter has taught us anything, it’s that when you love what you do, it shows and it makes all the difference.

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Labor Day is, unbelievably, upon us. I hope you all have a beautiful, safe and amazing holiday weekend.

I’m gonna tease a little news here, since I’ve got several things in the works, but the podcast is very much coming, we’ll be launching in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned to this space and LinkedIn for more. Additionally, I’ll be announcing two other ventures that I’m extremely excited about.

That’s all for this week. Until next time, friends.