Read time: 3 min 39 sec

Whatup Reader!

Allow me to start this email off by saying that Rupert, Moose, Lex, and I are all very much safe from the LA fires. We actually live in the one area that has remained in the ‘white zone’ throughout the entirety of this insane disaster, which has been both a godsend and a mindfuck all at once; living life and going about our days while people who live 15 miles from us have lost literally everything.

If you follow me on the Instagrams then you’ve seen my daily updates, and that’s actually what I want to chat about today.

I’ll be the first to sing the praises of social media, but also, ya’ll, being exposed to every tragedy ever, in real time, all the time, ain’t something that the human nervous system is designed for.

Thumb swipes provide dopamine hits that often end up as shame hangovers.

Should I donate?
Should I post about this?
Am I a bad person if I don’t say something?
What does it mean if I really don’t feel affected by this event?

Ya’ll, I’m not here to be anyone’s moral compass, but I do want to offer up some simple words that Dr. JPop shared with me a few weeks ago: The whole world is your neighbor.

Before you go should-ing all over yourself and interpreting that as “I’m supposed to help everyone all the time!”, allow me a moment to flip the script and share my interpretation:

Every single act of service matters. Every single act of service makes a difference. Social media would have you believe that you need to be making grand gestures that impact thousands, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

You get to choose who and how you help.

Living in a time of technology, this may look like being unsure of how to help the homeless man in your neighborhood but readily sending hundreds of dollars to Australia to help save koalas from a fire.

Honestly, I don’t think this is a bad thing, and not just because that hypothetical situation isn’t hypothetical at all 🙋🏽‍♂️.

Giving and helping others in the way that feels good for you keeps your heart soft and creates the resources, skills, and capacity to help in different ways when the time comes.

Take for example the ever-brilliant Blair Imani. She recently posted the following on Threads:

Her immediate family lost their house in the Eaton fire, and she took everyone in.

Blair has built an incredible platform behind helping the broader community. It lights her up. It keeps her going. It brings her joy. It keeps her heart soft.

And now, that energy and capacity is being directed 100% on her family.

You get to choose who and how you help.

Gonna make my elementary school teachers proud and wrap this email up by addressing something I mentioned in the opening paragraph: Going about life while others are experiencing complete devastation and loss.

How does one reconcile carrying on, nevermind actually going after their best life?

My belief: Help who you want, in whatever way you can, just make sure you help whoever you can, in whatever you want.

The whole world is our neighbor.

Every single action counts.

For those of you looking for ways to help with the LA fires, here are a few resources that I’ve either donated to or have scouted out and determined to be reputable:

• ​Pasadena Humane Society​
• ​Johnny Tea’s GoFundMe​
• ​GoFundMe Google Spreadsheet of displaced Black Families Altadena/Pasadena​
• ​LA Donation Match Program​
• ​LA Fire Department Foundation​
• ​Lex’s Live Donation-Based SEO Q+A Session​

No pressure.

You get to choose who and how you help.

Happy Tuesday, Reader.

Maestro out.

PS – If you enjoy my emails and you’re looking for an online business community that speaks the same language, the Mafia would love to have you at this month’s family dinner. Dinner is going down on Wednesday, January 29th, at 4pm PT, and it’s FREE99. The Mafia is the online business membership mentorship that I’ve run for the past 5 years, and we renamed our monthly calls as ‘dinners’, because honestly, we’re family. If you’re looking for a values-driven approach to building an online business and you’ve yet to find a community that is actually helpful and not just full of brochachos, we’d love to have you for dinner. No obligation to join the membership. We just want to show you that there is a better way to do online business and that the dope humans that you’re looking for do in fact exist. Click here to save your spot.​

Do the thing.

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