Vol. 29: Live, Truly Live

Q1 was the busiest season of my life, by far. Major Goodwill projects like a ribbon cutting and community partnership efforts. Ensuring a strong start to 2026 for the705 and planning 20 Under 40. Planning a Europe trip and a surprise proposal. Half-marathon training. Travel. Even more things not coming to mind right now.

It's been very busy. A good busy, but busy. And I've still got about 2 weeks to go before I get out of the forest and into the clearing. I'm almost there (hopefully).

Europe was perfectly timed - both how we paced it and when it fell on my calendar. If I hadn't gone on that trip, I'd be burned out right now.

The trip gave me a lot of new perspective. Every location provided a different take on living. I already knew work culture ("hustle culture") was bigger in the US, but it became jarringly more apparent overseas.

In Athens, one of the first things a local said to us (our Uber driver from the Athens airport) was "when I get people from the States, they're just work, work, work. Do you have fun?"

In Switzerland, a lot of people live in quaint cottages in small villages/towns separated by 20 minute train rides. It's calm and quiet, and people move at a slower pace. Even the major cities like Zurich and Bern are quieter and slower than you'd expect. We often asked each other "What do people even do here for a living?"

In Paris, people are constantly socializing at cafes from sunrise to after sunset. Not tourists - locals (trust me, you could tell who the tourists were). They'd grab a table at a cafe with friends, chat and laugh, and simply hangout for an hour before even ordering food. They biked, walked their dogs, hung out on street corners. It was active and lively.

In every country, life was slower and more socially active. Some more than others, but it held true nonetheless. It felt like they were actually living, not constantly moving to the next thing.

I find myself not living sometimes. Just constantly moving to the next thing. Sure, when you've moved from Thing A to Thing B to Thing C, time has passed, and therefore you've lived.

But have you lived?

Or did time just pass by?

A friend recently posted "Everything is a win when the goal is to experience." Digest that.

In our work-hard, productivity-guru, LinkedIn-fluencer, AI-infused culture, it's easy to view everything as win or lose. Everything needs to move the needle forward somehow.

I get it. I'm in that mode almost all the time. This newsletter is even meant to help you do that stuff more effectively and meaningfully.

But remember what the point of all this is. We don't live to work. We work so we can live the life we want to live.

That's one of my big takeaways from my Europe trip. Truly live.

Ask: am I living, or is time just passing by?

See you next Thursday, Steppers.

We will succeed,

Grayson

​graysonstepanek.com​

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Song of the Week:

shopping cart - Live Nathanial Young PREVIEW   ​

Talk about feeling alive. I just found this dude on Instagram over the weekend, and this album "Live Under the 7" is truly unique. It's a live album recording of him playing the saxophone below New York City's 7 train underpass in front of a small crowd. It's ethereal and warbly jazz that's pinned against the background of random cars passing by and shopping carts jostling on the sidewalk. Turn on your house's small lights, put this album on, take a deep breath, and just be.