In the Spirit of Low Maintenance

While I have a lot of funny stories from Jamaica, such as the experience of stepping on a sea urchin and needing the spikes removed from my feet, I thought it would be more interesting to share some takeaways from going away last week.

I don’t know why I went there, but I knew I needed to get out of the city and go somewhere else.

By the end of the trip, it was obvious that I was sent there to play guitar on the beach at nighttime and record it. This is basically the same outcome that happened when I went backpacking in 2017 and ended up with a guitar in Spain that followed me around for the rest of my trip.

Seeing Infinity

I was also sent there to dunk my head under the water and take in a glimpse of how infinite the ocean is, which makes you realize how infinite the experiences on Earth are, and then you can see how infinite the universe is.

To live in scarcity means to see everything as shrinking on you. That when someone is doing better than you, it is taking away from your happiness. Seeing the infinite space of the ocean makes you realize that everyone can be happy here if you just let people do their thing.

Getting out of your own way is paramount to this idea. Work on yourself, be happy with who you are, and you will never need to control or appease other people.

To Find Great Friends

From Frank and Annie, the couple from Montreal who sat across the aisle from me on the way there, but on the way home we could only sit together in a group of three seats together, I learned what a solid relationship looks like.

They are low-maintenance people who were not ashamed to tell me that they ‘half-ass’ their marriage in favour of just being happy and devoted to their kids.

We should all strive to be low-maintenance people, in our work, in our homes and in the world outside.

Advice from talking to an elderly Indian mom who owns a shop in the market: Life is complicated enough as it is. Seek out the people who don’t make it more complicated for you.

To Relax For Once and For All

And finally, on the second last day of the trip, after my foot was taken care of and my sunburns from a windy beach settled in, I had nothing left to do but just relax.

Listening to the waves lapping into the shore, my mind became quiet for the first time in what feels like forever. 2023 was one of my most challenging years, I feel like it’s all behind me and I’m excited about everything that’s happening right now in this moment.

Here is a video of me playing my slack guitar on the beach at night. You don’t see me in the video but the sound is accurate to the video. There is just one layer of keyboards overdubbed here before posting:

In the spirit of low-maintenance everything, have a great Sunday and week ahead,

Elliott