My first book of 2022 was The Storyteller by Dave Grohl. Dave is the frontman of the band Foo Fighters and was the drummer for Nirvana. I’ve been a Dave fan since his song “Everlong” enamored me as a junior higher.

The book is a fun look at the life of a rockstar. What’s most surprising is Dave’s humility every time he meets one of his musical heroes. He recounts story after story of these encounters throughout the book and the joy he has in each one is contagious. Throughout these stories he repeated a phrase that has stuck with me.

“People inspire people.”

As an artist, he attributes much of his inspiration and creativity to the people he’s interacted with in his life. I appreciate the simplicity of this idea and it seems this is an insight we would do well to keep at the forefront of our lives.

We’re all trying to keep our heads above water amidst a collective weariness in our world. Michelle and I have noticed that we seem to be getting Covid emails from our kids’ schools every day for every grade. None of us are quite sure what ‘normal’ looks like anymore. We are likely spending less time with others these last few years than ever before. Now more than ever it matters that invest ourselves into the people around us.

I once heard the marketing guru Seth Godin say that “Too many people are holding onto something while it rots.” If you think of this idea in physical terms—say of holding onto a rotting piece of fruit—it seems absurd. We wouldn’t do that. Yet when it comes to the intangibles we often don’t realize the absurdity of our actions.

I think this tendency to cling to what is rotting is why we are slow to embrace new things.