Say yes to their world

This week I’m taking you to a festival, a sunset, and a front row rail I never wanted to leave. Let’s start with a life story…

✦ LIFE — Lost & Found

My brother Pranav flew in from Canada with one carry-on and zero checked luggage — because the airline had other plans. His bags were somewhere between a conveyor belt and a prayer, and we were supposed to be heading to EDC Orlando, one of the biggest electronic music festivals in the world.

So naturally, we did what any reasonable siblings would do. We drove from Georgia to Orlando, and made a detour through Disney Springs every single morning to fix the situation. What started as a logistical necessity turned into its own little adventure — Pranav picking out outfits, me using it as a perfectly valid excuse to splurge on festival looks I absolutely did not need. By day two, we were ready.

EDC had been on Pranav’s list for a long time. He is the kind of person who doesn’t just like EDM — he lives inside it. Knows every artist, every set, every drop. I, on the other hand, am the kind of person who is simply always down for a travel adventure. That has always been enough for me to say yes.

But nothing quite prepared me for walking in.

Even before we found the entrance, it was overwhelming — the crowds, the scale, the noise rising from somewhere you couldn’t yet see. And then we were inside. A laser stage on one side. The main stage on the other, pulsing with light and sound in a way that made my chest feel like it had its own bass line. Pranav and I looked at each other, completely overjoyed and completely lost, and just started moving.

We covered ground. We barely ate. We barely drank. We were just… in it. Alan Walker, Steve Aoki, Armin Van Buuren, Illenium, Zedd, David Guetta, DJ Snake, Kaskade, Tiësto, Martin Garrix, Dom Dolla — artists I had heard in passing for years, suddenly right there, live, loud, real.

I made it to the front row more than once. The whole rail was head-bobbing in unison and I was just thrilled to be part of it — this moving, breathing thing made entirely of strangers who all knew the same words. Costume dancers weaved through the crowd and I had full dance battles with more than a few of them. No part of me was self-conscious. That alone felt like something.

And then came the Alesso sunset set.

He played Heroes. And I stood there, in the golden light, surrounded by thousands of people, hearing a song I had listened to alone in my early twenties — and I could not believe I was there. Live. With my brother, of all people. The one who had been obsessing over this world for years while I had only ever heard it from the outside.

We stayed on our feet for six, sometimes eight hours a day. We cruised through the clouds. And by the end of it, I understood — completely, fully — why he loves this so much. I left EDC understanding my brother a little more than before, and feeling closer to him in a way that only happens when someone lets you into the thing they love most. That felt like the whole point.

✦ GROWTH — Show Up

There is something quietly profound about stepping into someone else’s world — not because you have to, but because you love them enough to want to understand what lights them up.

We all have our people. And our people all have their things. The playlist they’ve been curating for years. The hobby they light up talking about. The place they’ve been wanting to take you. And so often, without meaning to, we stay on the outside of it — too busy, too indifferent, or just not quite curious enough to cross over.

But when you do show up — really show up, not just physically but openly — something shifts. Shared experiences have a way of building closeness that conversation alone rarely can. You don’t just know someone better after — you feel it. In your chest. In the way you look at them. In the inside jokes that only exist because you were both there, in the same moment, feeling the same thing.

That is the quiet magic of saying yes to someone’s world. You don’t just enter it. You build something together inside it.

✦ ACTION — Say Yes

This week: say yes to someone’s invite, even if it’s not your world.

A concert genre you’d never choose. A hobby that means nothing to you but everything to them. A plan you’d normally politely decline. Say yes. Show up. Let their excitement be enough of a reason.

You don’t have to love it. You just have to go.

And if something does move you unexpectedly — even better.

I’d love to know — is there something you said yes to that surprised you? Hit comment and tell me.

✦ POSTCARDS — Orlando, Florida

Laser lights, lost luggage, Disney Springs mornings, and a front row rail I never wanted to leave. EDC Orlando, November 2024 — the trip where I finally understood what all the fuss was about.