It’s anecdote time. Two of them, actually, and they are closely-related.
The first is the reaction I have when someone writes to me very excitedly saying how much they love the site and wish they had discovered me years ago. And I ask myself: have I been hiding?
Slope has been around over sixteen years. It advertises both in print and online. I have had a prominent show every weekday on tastytrade since the company launched. And I am absolutely confounded why it took so long for them to find me in the first place.
I had an experience today which helped me answer that question. I listen to YouTube quite a lot while I’m puttering around the house, normally enjoying things like music or comedians. Quite by chance today, it played a video by someone I had never heard of before: Jordan Peterson.
Now, those of you who know of his work are surely thinking, “How could you NOT have heard of him? What cave have you been living in?” Because he’s hugely successful author and a major figure in the world of political and social commentary.
So I finally understood why people have such trouble finding me (who is about 1/1000th as prominent as Mr. Peterson). Because it’s a big world.
There are nearly 8 billion of us, and there are a legion of distractions and commitments everyone has in their lives. I shouldn’t be surprised that someone took so LONG to find me. I should be shocked they found me at ALL! So I think I’ve flipped that reaction on its head from here on out. And now I’ll feel grateful instead of confused.
Having said that, my experience with Peterson’s video was much like when, many months ago, I stumbled upon Alan Watts. I began listening to him NON-STOP. Professor Peterson is clearly brilliant, and his worldview aligns tightly with my own. Here are a couple of videos you might enjoy:
And, naturally, I’ve been falling all over myself to snap up his books so I can read them. Suffice it to say, I find his work mesmerizing, and I learned something about my own flawed worldview by realizing just how unlikely it is that a given person will be exposed to something new and interesting, no matter how relevant it may be to their own life.
