If you're new here, welcome to Never Enough, where I brain dump interesting stuff that has been on my mind over the last week.
Every day, I’d feel the burning. First, the pressure in my stomach would build. Then the right side of my throat would feel like someone had a blow torch to it. It was acid reflux. And I had it almost every day for a decade. It started when I was about 25. Subtle, at first. I could take a Tums, and it would go away. No big deal. But before long, it became unbearable. The only thing that would prevent it was a ridiculously strict diet, and even then, I’d often have flare-ups. What was odd about it was that the typical drugs did nothing. Tums made it better for 15 minutes, then it was back with a vengeance. And oddly, proton pump inhibitors, drugs that reduce stomach acid, made it twice as bad. I was at a loss. Then, one day, I randomly stumbled on a Reddit community called “NoBurp.” All my life, I’d never been able to burp, and whenever I’d mentioned it to a doctor I’d been brushed off: “You’re burping, I promise you, you just don’t realize it.” But I wasn’t. I’d only burped a few times in my life, often at random moments when I was laughing really hard. (Which was as embarrassing as you can imagine.) It turned out that the people on Reddit all had an incredibly rare disorder called Retrograde Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction. Its primary symptom: the inability to burp, caused by an especially tight cricopharyngeal muscle. One of the most common symptoms: acid reflux and pressure in the throat after drinking carbonated beverages or a large meal. I was intrigued. It seemed whacky, but I thought maybe this could be it. And there was just one doctor in the world working on it. A guy named Dr. Robert Bastian, in Chicago. After a Reddit user suffering from this disorder contacted him, he decided to try an experimental procedure: injecting Botox into the patient’s throat using an endoscope. Within a few days, this patient, miraculously, could burp, and Dr. Bastian began performing this procedure on hundreds of others, with most gaining the ability to burp. Here’s a great little YouTube video about a guy going through it. So in 2020 I flew to Chicago. Dr. Bastian and his team put me under, gave me the procedure, and within a day I was letting out little burps, then medium burps, then massive, room-shaking Homer Simpson burps. What was especially crazy was that I had absolutely no control over them, so they would erupt in the middle of a meeting or dinner out at a restaurant, which led to many awkward explanations. Magically, my reflux almost completely disappeared, and three years later I’m still burping up a storm. To help more folks navigate this bizarre and rare disorder, I created a simple website walking through it: www.noburp.org. Can you burp? If not, you might want to take a trip to Chicago too.
My friend Brent Beshore did a really wonderful interview on The Knowledge Project and I found myself nodding along. In it, he talks about some of the maladaptive behaviors that made him a superhero at work but challenged his personal life and distanced him from others. He was seeking control in all situations. Always paying for the bill. Always being the loudest in the room. Always ensuring he controlled all the variables and had everything planned out. A quote that struck me: “Are you optimizing your life for the people who know you best, or the people who know you least?” It reminded me a lot of some of the work I’ve done on myself over the last few years, and I really loved the interview. Huge respect to Brent for being so open and helping others in the process. Listen here
For years, I’ve been searching for the perfect overnight travel bag. My pal Rob at Outway teamed up with Haven bags and cracked it. It looks like a simple backpack, but it’s secretly HUGE and insanely well-organized. Highly recommend it. I've been traveling all week and loving it. Check it out here
I’ve been loving Sam Parr’s new podcast, MoneyWise. In it, he goes deep (often anonymously) with wealthy people about their lives. How much they spend, what’s worth it, what isn’t. How money has impacted their lives and changed their relationships. It’s really unique and something you so rarely hear people talk about. I particularly liked this episode with “Jeff,” a guy who sold his software company for $120M, bought four houses and a jet, and then realized he was just as miserable as ever. Great quote from this episode: “I’m really good at preparing to be happy, but not being happy”. Listen here
I’m a big fan of Ugmonk. They make insanely beautiful desktop organizer systems for anal retentive nerds. I recently bought the Gather Productivity Kit and it has majorly upped my home office game (see below).
My book, Never Enough, is coming out July 9. If you happen to be in Victoria, BC, I’m doing a launch event, reading, and Q&A at Bolen Books that evening from 7-8:30pm. Get your tickets here(one ticket = cost of a book, which you’ll receive at the event). Hope to see you there :-)
That’s all for this week…but one more thing. If you’re enjoying this, can you do me a favor and forward it to a friend? Thanks.
