Friends news: Do this to help your single friends
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Hello Reader from your friend Nick, author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party. I just landed home in Texas after 41 days on the road... Hawaii, Manila, Bali, Singapore, Bangalore, Goa, and Mumbai India. It was fun. I walked through jungles. I slept next to waterfalls. I wrote a lot. I spent a lot of time alone. And I met a dozen or two interesting people. In this issue: How to Host a Dating Salon, my June 2024 Life Recap, an event in Austin this Sunday, an article from 1930 in Vogue about hosting parties, 2 excellent quotes, a short story by Ted Chiang, swimming in wild waters, and more. NICK GRAY FRIENDS NEWSLETTER Why you’re getting this: I'm Nick Gray and this is my Friends Newsletter. I send this every month to interesting people I’ve connected with and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can un-subscríbe any time and I won't be mad. I won't even be notified. How to Host a Dating SalonI wrote this huge guide about how you can help your single friends. Here's the deal: Dating apps are frustrating. A lot of people are single and miserable. But I think I found a solution to help your friends get better dates and build romantic relationships - it’s called a Dating Salon.
This is a great guide for anyone who:
Read the full article here about how you can host your own. June 2024 Life RecapI was on the road for the entirety of June 2024 which is sort of wild. I almost didn’t go on my big Asia trip. My tooth was bothering me, some things were happening in my personal life, and I was feeling avoidant about the long flight to get there. But I did go! And that kicked off the whole month of travel and adventure. It’s wild because I was so, so close to canceling this trip. But then I didn’t and all this cool stuff happened. The lesson here is: do the hard thing. Keep the commitment. And keep living for adventures. Read the full article here. Random Links🎊 The Secret To Hosting A Party For The Ages From a 1930 article in Vogue magazine: "The making of a successful party is like the baking of a wonderful soufflé: the ingredients and proportions must be weighed and measured by the hand of an artist, should be taken out of the oven at exactly the psychological moment, and served hot." 👨🏻💻 What's Expected of Us: By Ted Chiang A short science fiction story in Nature about free will that I liked. 👨👨👧👦 7 Couples, 2 Grandparents, and 11 Kids in Two Buildings "In 2019 a group of friends created something pretty special on top of a blustery hill in San Francisco. They bought a two-building parcel together..." 🤓 A guide to anxiety-free hosting — no dinner required WaPo: “Experts share why we should host friends in our homes more often — and suggestions for low-stakes, low-stress ways to do it.” Sent in via long-time Friends Newsletter reader Andria Yu. 📱 SWIMMING IN THE WILD WILL CHANGE YOU I love swimming in water where I can see fish. Nice article: "One man’s journey through public waterways—whether sparkling or dirty or algae-filled—challenges us to look differently at the commons." No paywall link in The Atlantic, or source with login here. Upcoming Travel & EventsAustin Texas -- this Sunday, July 14: BookPeople Presents: Baron Ryan - A Comedy of Nobodies. I'm interviewing my filmmaker friend Baron aka @americanbaron in support of his new book. Come say Hi! Victoria, Canada -- July 24-26 for Andrew Wilkinson's Interesting People conference. I'm helping Monica to host it as the Master of Ceremonies. Also his new book Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire is a fun read. Denver, Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park -- July 30 to Aug 3 for a family reunion. Houston, Texas -- Aug 29-31 for HostCon, an event for Airbnb and short-term rental folks. I'm helping James and Rob to host. Cancun, Mexico -- October 5-8 for BPCON, a real estate event by BiggerPockets. I'm the Master of Ceremonies and get to introduce my friend Codie Sanchez as the keynote. Las Vegas, NV -- October 22-24 for NBAA, a trade show for business jets. Helping my father with his company Airtext. Favorite QuotesTypes Of People You Need To Hang On To, Part 1 Enthusiastic listeners. People who don't make you guess if they're mad. Direct communicators. The friend who helps you clean your room. People who are kind to those who can do nothing for them. Messy folks who repeatedly get it wrong but never stop trying to get it right anyway. Kindred spirits. Loud laughers. Pals who make the grocery store fun. Loved ones who get as excited about your success as you do. The person you feel comfortable crying in front of. Sing-in- the-car friends. People who text you to look at the moon. People who text you just to say hi. The one you've known since childhood who you can go a long time without talking to but nothing changes. Those who understand the value of holding space. The mentor who pushes you to do better because they want better for you. Patient teachers. Healers. Scrappy souls. Hard workers. Friends you can joke about hypothetical situations with for hours on end. The genuine. Anyone who leaves you feeling good afterward, not just when you're with them. People who see your fault lines and say they have them too. Anyone who came to mind as you read this. I'VE LEARNED, BY MAYA ANGELOU I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly par on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. FOR FRIENDS WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS Instead of telling people, “I hope you feel/get better soon”, I find it much less invalidating, and more kind, to say: “I hope you experience more moments of joy and east and rest, even if the hard pieces stay. I hope there are breaks in the suffering and pain. I hope you can be gentle with yourself as you move through this impossibly hard and painful thing”. – Daniell Koepke (source w/more) Want to read more of my work?If you've made this far, perhaps you'd be interested in my other writing and resources: The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings @NickGrayNews on all the social media The EndHappy Friday! I hope you had a good week. I'm thinking about you. Thanks for reading my Friends Newsletter this month. Here are some past issues if you missed any:
🤠 Nick Gray p.s. Here's the About Me on my website if you forgot who I am. We met [HOWWEMET GOES HERE]. |
