A Story of Getting Too Damn High
Two years ago I was living the dream in LA.
My second TEDx talk had just come out and after hustling to promote it for a few weeks, my friend told me he was coming into town for the night. This friend is someone who I always get into trouble with, the good kind of trouble, of course. The plan was to meet at my place and then head downtown to have dinner with a few of his friends. A nice, chill evening full of good conversation. During the promotion period of myTEDx talk, I had committed to remaining sober. But tonight, I could let loose.
One of my roommates had an edible candy to spare so I popped that without thinking much about it and off we went. I mean, I’ve taken edibles like this many times before and we were just going for dinner. No problem, just a night with good conversation. The plans change and instead of going to dinner, we’re going to a fancy rooftop club. So we stop and grab dinner quick and 30 minutes later I’m sitting at a table, having the epiphany that this edible is coming on a lot stronger than I would expect. It’s an edible so your only choice is to roll with it. It’s going to take you for a ride, whether you want it to or not.
We get downtown and at this point, I’m high out of my mind. The kind of not so functional high out of my mind. For the next three hours I walk around the club and stare off into space. There haven’t been very many moments in my life where I was too high to function, but tonight is one of them.

Near the end of the night, I was trying to have a conversation with one of my friends friends, and I was obviously failing to do that. So I just decided to be honest and apologize to him.
“I took an edible earlier and it hit me a lot harder than I expected it to. Sorry I wasn’t more available to hang out tonight.”
It was the kind of apology that was trying to be vulnerable, mixed with not taking responsibility, and he knew it. So he said something that completely changed my life.
“You know, at some point in my life I realized I wanted to stop borrowing from tomorrow.”
It left me speechless. Stop borrowing from tomorrow. It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. For weeks I had been working so hard that I needed to cut loose and take a break — to the point that I wasn’t only unable to function at the club, but I would have to lay in bed hungover tomorrow as well.
What I took away was this: Instead of overcompensating today to sacrifice tomorrow, live each day to the fullest. Make the most of every day. Treat every day the same.
Since that night I’ve made a few changes to how I approach each day:
I have been almost completely sober the past few years. I also prioritize finding time to rest and recover in each day, instead of needing to book a vacation a few times a year for that purpose. I’m focused on my mission, with the awareness that in order to accomplish it, I have to have a sustainable lifestyle. And that begins with how I approach every day.
We all have ways that we overcompensate today to sacrifice tomorrow. So what are some of the changes you can make to make the most of every day, and stop borrowing from tomorrow?
