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🔥Key Takeaways 🔥
Most of the fear holding you back is imagined, and action is usually what exposes that truth.
Simplicity often begins by letting go of worries that never earn the right to exist.
Some songs don’t just remind you of someone—they help you finally understand them.
The Fear Never Really Goes Away (So Hit Send Anyway)
Campfire Gentleman isn’t something I share with many people in my personal life.
Not because I’m hiding it—but because, if I’m honest, I’m afraid of being judged by the people whose opinions I value the most. It’s easier to keep it compartmentalized. Safer to let it live “over there,” separate from day-to-day life.
Most of the time, that works.
…until it doesn’t.
A few months ago, I shared a funny Instagram post with a friend. Nothing unusual—except I forgot it would come from my Campfire Gentleman account. A small mistake. An easy one.
He followed the account.
Suddenly, he could see everything.
The writing.
The ideas.
The interviews.
The whole project I usually keep tucked away.
I felt that familiar tightening in my chest—the oh no, now it’s real feeling.
But here’s the part I didn’t expect.
He’s become one of my biggest supporters.
Not loud about it. Not performative. Just occasional encouragement. Thoughtful text. Genuine interest.
The other day, I admitted something to him I don’t say out loud very often: every time I send an email or a DM asking someone if they’d be willing to talk with me—every interview request, every reach-out—I’m just as nervous now as I was on day one.
That fear never really leaves.
He responded by sending a meme of Wayne Gretzky with the quote everyone knows:
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Then he added his own line underneath:
“Email and DM away!”
That was it. No speech. No advice spiral. Just: go for it, man.
It reminded me of something easy to forget: most of the fear we carry isn’t coming from other people—it’s coming from imagined versions of them. From assumptions we’ve made in advance. From judgments that haven’t actually been spoken.
And sometimes, the support we’re hoping for is already there—we just haven’t given it a chance to show up.
If you’re waiting to feel confident before you put yourself out there, you might be waiting a long time.
The fear doesn’t disappear.
You just learn to hit send anyway.
And occasionally, you find out someone’s quietly rooting for you on the other side of the screen.
The Cozy Winter Ritual Behind My Energy and Glow ✨
Winter calls for rituals that actually make you feel amazing—and Pique’s Sun Goddess Matcha is mine. It delivers clean, focused energy with zero jitters, supports glowing skin and gentle detox, and feels deeply grounding on cold mornings. Smooth, ceremonial-grade, and crave-worthy, it’s the easiest way to start winter days clear, energized, and glowing from the inside out
Most things I worry about never happen anyway.
Simplicity often starts by letting go of worries that never earn the right to exist.
A Song That Sounds Like Dad
I’m late to the party on Stephen Wilson Jr., but I recently caught this clip of him performing Gary on This Past Weekend—Theo Vaughn’s podcast—and it stopped me in my tracks.
It immediately made me think of my dad and my late father-in-law. Different men, different lives, but the same quiet presence.
If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth a few minutes of your time:
Until next time—
🔥Keep the fires burning,
— Clay
P.S. I’d rather grow Campfire Gentleman through real connections than algorithms.
If this resonated, forward it to one friend.
Sam Darnold Thumbnail by Tennessee Titans
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