Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media

After-dark alternative pop-rock.
Old soul / modern night.
ESCAPADES — 28 AUG.
Founder + Creative Director @glowopsmedia.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

I realised something today:

Noone gets excited about baselines.

You constantly work to change your life.

Then the thing you once wanted becomes normal.

Your baseline rises.

Suddenly your attention's on what hasn’t happened yet.

Progress feels invisible because it worked.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

A reminder for you & honestly for me too:

Ask the version of you 6-12 months ago what she’d think of the life you have now

We move goalposts so quickly that yesterday’s dream becomes today’s baseline

Keep wanting more. Just don’t erase how far you’ve already come

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

You don’t get unique perspectives by calling them unique.

You get them by living unusually.
Building. Failing. Loving. Losing.
Changing your mind. Entering strange rooms.

Then actually thinking about what happened.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Everyone thinks they have unique perspectives.

Usually they just have borrowed ideas in their own vocabulary.

Go live enough life that reality gives you something nobody else could’ve written.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Your life should be fucking juicy enough that “I can’t tell you here” comes up at brunch.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

“I hate small talk” is one of the easiest ways to feel deep without having to live deeply.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Everybody wants connection until it starts making claims on their time, honesty, consistency and courage.

Then you find out who wants depth and who only wants the feeling of it.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Be feral with life.
Be dependable with people.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Be hot. Be tender.
Make things. Want too much.
Fuck well. Love deeply. Stay ridiculous.
Build a life that makes people wonder
What the hell you’re doing and secretly wish they had the nerve to do it too.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Finding likeminded people isn’t the goal.

People who think like you reinforce who you already are.

Find people whose lives make who you want to become feel normal.

Belonging matters.

Becoming matters more.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

You don’t need more likeminded people.

You need people who normalize your desired future.

Different standards.
Different conversations.
Different possibilities.
Eventually, a different you.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Maybe finding likeminded people isn’t the goal.

People who think like you reinforce who you already are.

Find people whose lives make who you want to become feel normal.

Belonging matters.

Becoming matters more.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

“Just be yourself” can be terrible advice.

Your current self might be partly circumstance, fear, underexposure, bad habits, or simply skills you haven’t built yet.

Don’t just find people who validate who you are.

Find people who make who you want to become feel normal.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

“Be yourself” is overrated advice when your current self isn’t where you want to end up.

Don’t only find “your kind of weird.”

Find people around whom your next level becomes normal.

Environment isn’t just belonging.

It’s identity training.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

“Find your people” is incomplete advice.

Don’t just find people who validate who you already are.

Find people whose lives, standards and direction make the person you want to become feel normal.

Your environment shouldn’t only make you feel understood.

It should expand you.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

Humans need more:

new instruments
late-night drives
beautiful clothes
random new friends
places we’ve never been
reasons to stay out too late
reckless little creative projects
songs attached to specific summers

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

You should still have things you’re hilariously bad at.

You should still have crushes.

You should still start projects that make absolutely no financial sense.

You should still occasionally think:

“what the fuck am I doing?”

That’s life.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

THE GREAT SHRINKING OF ADULTHOOD:

People stop playing.

Stop flirting.
Stop creating.
Stop dressing up.
Stop expecting adventure.
Stop dreaming ridiculously.
Stop learning things for no reason.

Then they call it maturity.

Fuck that.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

I don’t fear getting older.

I fear waking up one day and realizing I slowly agreed to become less alive.

[Tuan | Artist & World Builder @ GlowOps Media @itstuanluu]

You can be responsible without becoming boring.

You can be disciplined without becoming joyless.

You can grow older without becoming smaller.