Mike Birbiglia and the Lucky Droplet
Dear Friends,
When comedian Mike Birbiglia went home during his first year of college over the holiday break, he noticed a drop of blood in his pee. He knew that was bad. It's just something you know at a basic level: those two things just aren't supposed to mix. It turned out to be a cancerous tumor on his bladder, which the urologist removed. "Symptoms often are lucky," Mike explained on Andy Richter's podcast, because they allow you to catch things early. Despite this so-called luck, he needed to undergo a cystoscopy (google that at your own risk) every few months in order to monitor the potential for cancer. The tumor was thought to be the result of a certain type of toxic paint he may have been exposed to as a child.
Imagine being a relatively carefree 19 year old, just finding your feet at university and getting the first glimpse at your career. Suddenly, you're faced with cancer and a lifetime of urologist appointments. Did Mike curse the paint that he'd been exposed to? Maybe he did. It would be hard not to. More importantly, he devoted himself to his passion: his work writing, producing, acting, and directing comedy shows. "No time like the present. You could get cancer tomorrow and die," he summarized with an air of flippant directness.
Sometimes, life switches from easy mode to hard mode. Mike is no stranger to hard mode. The cancer was found and removed when he was 19, still a kid. He was later hit by a drunk driver (and ordered to pay $12,000 for the drunk's car due to a mistake in the police report), developed a sleepwalking disorder, and famously exited a second-story window at a motel in his sleep. The injuries required 33 stitches in his leg! He managed all of this while working on his shows and starting a family.
Later in the interview, Andy gushed to Mike: "You're an amazing person. You're frankly heroic, in terms of what you've done with your life, especially given how fucked up you are physically. You're a mess!" (That last sentence was said in a jovial way, I assure you.)
We all have our own personal hard mode. Mike chose to confront his own personal hard mode with a mix of pragmatism, humor, and self-reflection. He told Kara Swisher on her podcast, "If you can't afford a therapist, write in your journal. Write down the thing you're saddest about, or angriest about. You zoom out and then your life is a story. You encourage yourself to make better decisions."
That's what Hard Mode is all about. Studies have shown that people who write about traumatic and stressful experiences have fewer doctor visits, fewer days out of work due to sickness, lower levels of stress hormone, and better working memory.
When life gets hard, you have the choice to embrace it (even though it sucks). Mike is a great example of how to do so.
Keep Going,
Geoff
Notes
Mike Birbiglia can be found on the web and a bunch of other places. He’s currently starring in his own Broadway show, The Old Man and the Pool.
Check out Andy Richter’s podcast and Kara Swisher's podcast with Mike.
Parting Thought
What, you’re still here? The email is over. Go do something else! Oh, you want one last tidbit? Okay, fine. Here you go.
I launched this newsletter less than a week ago and so it’s still in a very nascent (read: tiny) stage. I personally know everyone who received it and I just want to say a heartfelt THANKS for subscribing! As it turns out, receiving gratitude is a very effective happiness booster, more so than giving gratitude. So I sorta just boosted your happiness right now (you’re welcome).
And what’s really wild is that being an observer - watching someone help someone else and then being thanked - is also a very effective boost, even when you’re not directly involved. In the subway, you sometimes see strangers helping someone with a baby stroller up a long flight of stairs. That’s pretty cool.