Hello!
I'm Geoff, your Existential Crisis Bartender.
Pull up a chair, get drunk on meaning, and try not to puke on the website.
The Old Fashioned Journey Home
What if your life was just a dream?
The Path to Perfectia trilogy explores this fundamental question that was revealed to me during my brush with the great beyond.
Like many of you, I wrestled for years with the existential angst of, "Why am I even here? What is all this, anyway?"
But rather than get the answers from a sermon, YouTube video or some nut with a megaphone in Times Square, it came to me in these books.
I was able to channel what I deeply felt and understood to be true into this series told through the lens of a cynical New Yorker at the turn of the 21st century.
The saga of Jacob "Smooth" Roberts begins with a visit from his spirit guide in a New York dive bar on December 6th, 2000, and evolves into an adventure of self-discovery, grief, love, friendship, struggle, healing and paranormal craziness beyond his wildest imagination.
It's adventure that will change not only Smooth, but ultimately the entire world.
And one that will likely trigger a deep remembrance of your own.
That your life is, in fact, simply the grand dream of your soul.
Tarot & Tonic
Looking for answers? How about some Big Deck Energy?!
After attending a Tarot event in Florida (all inspiration flows from that magnificent state), I had the idea to create my own deck.
But instead of a classic Tarot deck where a mystic talks to you about towers and grim reapers while assuring you the death card doesn't actually mean an impending, grisly death (Spoiler: It does), I thought...how about a Tarot reading with cards such as, "Florida Man", "The Retired Swingers" and "That Bitch at Work" to give us clarity instead?
And on that fine, swampy day, Joe Blow Tarot was born.
The best part? You can do a reading for yourself without having to inhale incense or spend a half hour adjacent to a creepy cat.
Click the link below, choose 3 random numbers between 1 and 70, and scroll down to give yourself an irreverent Tarot reading to see what themes are tugging at your sleeve today.
You can also pick up your own copy of the deck, conduct readings for others, and maybe even give yourself a cool name like "Madame Chargesalot."
Networking with a Twist
Existential crises are often born from a sense of what we've accomplished...or, more accurately, haven't accomplished in life.
But what if we could leave all that at the coat check?
After my almost-died-but-not-quite situation, I was driving up I-95, which was as good a substitute for the narrowly-avoided underworld as any. And on that beautiful stretch of the same exact tree for 1,000 miles, I had a thought hit me. Which, admittedly, was better than a deer or an 18-wheeler hauling velvet furniture.
The thought was:
What would a networking event look like if we weren't allowed to talk about our jobs?
What started as an idea in a car led to several "Notworking Experience" events in the Northeast, culminating in a full-page feature in the New York Post and shout-out on the Drew Barrymore show.
Apparently, people were craving this type of return to self everywhere. An opportunity to simply be. Not perform or impress. But just be. Play. Mingle. And enjoy the moment. Like we did before the world told us we were failures for not checking certain boxes by a certain age.
Imagine just being you without the story.
Just you.
What would that look like in your life?
The Splash of Hope
What it if wasn't all gloom and doom?
We're so often weighed down by the idea that everything is screwed and only getting worse by the day.
Granted, that's usually true for the New York Jets.
But what if it didn't have to be for the world? What if something better, was, indeed, on the horizon?
A higher-vibrational world of innovation, cooperation and unity. Where the albatrosses of our past have given way to the promises of tomorrow?
...and where you were free to always pursue your highest expressions of joy?
In this Substack titled, "The Garden of Tomorrow", vignettes of these visions come to life in a world where the people of Venezuela and Iran are among the freest and most prosperous on Earth, the Middle East is a land of peace and promise, mental health crises are mere relics of antiquity and every child's promise is fulfilled with systems built to unlock their genius.
Spiritual Satire on the Rocks
This drink name is admittedly lazy. They can't all be clever.
You may have had an awakening on your journey through this existential angst, or at least dabbled in a hint of spirituality here and there to try to make sense of it all.
Friends, the thing about spiritual awakenings is that, well, they can suck you into some pretty sanctimonious places.
No, not Bali.
Although, yes, Bali.
I started The Daily Stuffing as a place to make sure we can laugh at ourselves on this journey of self-discovery and soul remembrance. And not take ourselves too seriously as we pony up a mortgage payment for the gurus and yak into a bucket in Peru.
Your Custom Life Cocktail
You've seen my menu, now let's create a custom drink of purpose just for you.
Here's the good news:
Backyard wrestling videos exist on YouTube. That may not be relevant to you. But it's fun for me to randomly mention.
Here's the other good news:
You don't need to copy anyone's template, go on a spirit quest or hike a mountain to find your purpose. Just follow this simple formula:
- One part pain
- One part power
- Three dashes of your "secret sauce" personality
- Garnish of your surroundings
That's it, my friend.
Your purpose exists at the intersection of these four ingredients, and here's how you make the drink to get some clarity:
- Identify the thing that's been your greatest cause of struggle in life. Name it. sit with it. Feel it.
- Identify the thing you're best at. The thing you would do for free if you could. The thing that comes most naturally to you.
- Lean into your personality. Outgoing? Introverted? Cerebral? Clownish? That's the bitters that'll infuse the cocktail.
- Look around your life. Who's in it? Who can benefit from what you've been through, what you're great at and the way you uniquely communicate it?
Now here's how you mix it:
You don't.
Just identify who you are, what you've endured, what superpowers are inherent to you and the way you best express yourself, and it will coalesce together effortlessly.
Bottoms up, my friend.