You're a Fool

A lesson about the pranks you play on yourself

Apr 04, 2022

Hello! Greetings from Los Angeles. It's one of my favorite cities in the world, mostly for what has happened to me here over the years.

I've come to LA for many reasons: for a dead-end job, for unfathomable love, for the chance at being famous, for the chance at being famous, for the chance at being famous, for a small ground floor apartment by the beach that held me together when I had to run away from New York City, for so many reasons, but right now:

I’m here for no reason at all.

& that alone feels so melancholy and disingenuous. It’s not that I don’t think I’ll be back here: to work, to love, to live, to be famous…for the chance to be famous…

It’s just when I come back here, I stand in the same spot that I’ve stood at age 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33 and I whisper:

Do you remember me? Do you remember all the things you gave me? All the things I tried to give to you?

Nobody tells you this but perhaps they should:

Be careful when you go back to a place you once loved that loved you back.

Because if you leave it too many times, it’ll start to look at you strange, like a stranger, but you’ll never stop looking at like the millions of things it was to you when you came there to work and to live and to love and to be famous.

In this issue: How nothing goes as planned, a good book to have by your bedside, and some of my favorite things.

Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is my Monday Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it for over 8-years, every single Monday morning, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in in your inbox. It makes my heart explode with joy.

The Pick-Me-Up: Things never go as planned.

FRIDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY AND I WOKE UP WITH A LITTLE COLD & A LOT OF SNOT.

Tissues were the very first thing to kiss my face as my eyes opened to the beat of 3 & 4.

When you’re born on APRIL Fool’s Day, you become immune to the unexpected, the swings of disappointments, this theme that life’s some big joke, and you can somehow always guess the punchline.

YOU LEARN REALLY FAST:

That your most special days won't be the ones you marked down on your calendar and every plan you ever made for your life will disappear, POOF!

Because the truth is:

There are pranks that other people play on you - like trick candles on birthday cakes and a middle school crush telling you they adore you too only to then shout out APRIL FOOLS!

And there are the pranks the world plays on you - like the worst day of your life happening to fall on the day of your 31st birthday or waking up with a cold on your 34th.

And then there are the pranks you play on yourself - like how you can be your own worst enemy. How you know EXACTLY what you’re meant for, yet you often do everything else.

I called my mom crying the night before my birthday:

"Why is this happening to me right now?"

I never get sick but of course, when I took my temperature last night, the thermometer practically read:

YOU APRIL FOOL, YOU!

“You’re tougher than this,” my mom said to me as my tears punched the phone.

"Like everything in life, this too has to run its course and it's terrible and uncomfortable, but you know the drill."

Some jokes life plays on us hurt, some shock, some buzz your heartbeat back to where it needs to be to chase after what you’re meant for, and some remind you:

That you’re nothing more than an APRIL FOOL and as long as you remember:

What sucks the most in your life might be some uncanny warning sign // and what breaks you makes you superhuman strong // then you’ll always know this:

Life’s a joke and you’re not the punchline.

You, sweet darling, create the punchline.

So laugh yourself silly right after you soak yourself in a cry.

Because if everything was so predictable and easy, then you wouldn’t be the:

APRIL FOOL you were born to be ❤️

Accept it, move on. Life goes on.

All my love,

Jen Glantz

❤️

Random Links

Playing On Repeat

A very comfy playlist for this Monday morning.