The Most Precious Content I've Ever Created
It's July 24th, 2026, here with me, Jerry Banfield, and this is a day in my life. I've been thinking about it like this: I've created content online for the last 15 years, and I asked myself, what is the most precious, meaningful content I've created over those 15 years? If I had to delete everything, and if I could just make one video every single day, what would it be? I'd say it would be a vlog. This is the most important content I create, and to me this is the number one content everyone should create — an honest, real vlog telling exactly your life story. That's the most precious thing, because it preserves your life story.
I've been thinking a lot about what is the most precious thing we have as humans, especially in this world of AI rising and being able to do just incredible things. What do we have that's important as humans? Really, it's our story. And I'm feeling called in my work — I've been feeling for years that I want to get out and help people in person — and I'm feeling the main thing I want to help people do is tell their story and share their story. Especially as AI starts to generate more how-to content, and you can just ask AI for help with anything, the one thing AI can't do is generate a real human story. It can generate fake human stories, but real human stories, to me, are precious. And there's something about the details you lose over time that you just can't get back. You can't get them back.
I love that on this vlog I've recorded the first days of meeting this woman I'm dating. When I met my ex-wife, I wish I'd recorded what I was thinking and what I was doing every single day. The beauty is that as I met this woman, I've recorded, on the actual days, the exact experiences I was having. Just imagine a scenario where things work out with her and we have a family and kids — imagine 20 or 30 years from now, I've got videos talking about, "Here's the first date I went on with your mom, here's my vlog right after that, here's the third date, the fourth date, here's the first week, the first 10 days, the first 11 days of our relationship." Imagine having that. There's nothing more precious I could create right now that I would treasure more in the future.
I know we all have stories, and a lot of us think, "My story's not interesting." Well, I disagree. To somebody, your story is precious. Somebody really cares, and you never know how your story could influence someone. So this is what I'm thinking about today — I'm just obsessed with the stories. I've created all different kinds of content in the last few months, and when I ask what's the most important content I need to create, I keep coming back to the stories. I think about my younger self — obsessed with high scores and with women, with this kind of limited outlook I had on my future and my possibilities — and I'd love to be able to see that version of me now. What I want to help people do is more of this.
Lindsay's Book and the Business I Feel Called to Build
I have a friend named Lindsay Dorio, and she wanted to capture the story of finding the man she's dating now — the love of her life — within the first year of meeting him. She said, "I want to always remember this story, and I want to have this for our kids in the future — here's how I met your father, and everything leading up to that." It's an amazing book. She came and dictated this whole book at my studio, and all she had to do was step up and dictate it — I did everything else for her. This book has inspired me so much. Hearing her story was so helpful for me, and it's an example of how the most powerful thing each of us has is our story, our real lived human experience. That's something AI can't do — have a real lived human experience.
I'm seeing that the primary way I want to build my business going forward is by doing things like this — helping people preserve their stories. I felt awesome doing this for her, I made good money doing this for her, and she feels awesome having her story preserved. Imagine one day her kids having this book. I wish my mom had a book about the time she met my dad.
I've got the whole weekend almost completely scheduled out. I'm going to go stay with my aunt, I'm going to see my sister tomorrow morning at her house, then go to my other sister's house for the graduation party, and I'm going to dinner with my nephew. We've got some things on the calendar for Sunday as well, and then we'll fly back Monday.
I love being able to tell my story here, and it's really good for me to tell my story. I think I would like to watch videos like this too. In fact, I'm not even sure how to easily find videos like this, where someone is doing an authentic, heartfelt vlog, because these kinds of things don't often go viral. It's often people running manipulated narratives and saying what they're supposed to say — that's who you find. But how do you find someone like me who's just sharing their heartfelt, normal human experience? Often these videos don't have a hundred thousand views each, because there's not something toxic that everybody has to click on and see. It's just a real human life.
A 40-Minute Call After a Week of Emotional Upheaval
I'm really grateful that in the last 24 hours I talked to the woman I'm dating right now. We had a call for a little over 40 minutes, and it was so nice to talk with her, because we hadn't talked since Sunday — although we texted and exchanged voice memos. There had been so much emotional upheaval we'd both experienced after a euphoric week of meeting each other — spending like 12 hours in person together — and then not having a few days to see each other or even talk on the phone before her trip. It was so nice to reconnect with her and to know we're on the same page. She even said, "I watched one of your videos and I saw you were upset, and I just wanted you to feel better." What a beautiful reaction to my videos. There are lots of women who would have watched that and been like, "I'm out. Goodbye, you loser." It's so amazing, and she understands, because she's a content creator as well.
I was thinking — I have a great business idea. She said she loves talking to strangers. Well, I can find some strangers to pay her to talk to, and then we'll create their books. What's really cool with me is that if you can talk to me, I can turn that into almost anything. It can be a book, it can be blog posts posted on ICP that will be up there indefinitely and difficult to censor, and I can turn it into videos, a podcast, pictures. It could be something physical — a book, picture, and video archive, all of it. I could put private videos directly on the ICP blockchain that people would have to sign in to watch, and they could be watched all over the world.
A Life Story and Personal History Business
I'm thinking of a life story and personal history business. I don't want to depend on my business being only online, and I realized that this woman I'm dating and I could have an incredible business together, because I think she'd really enjoy listening and talking to people about their life stories. And then I know all the technical stuff. We could both be out there, but in the ideal team, she'd probably take most of the in-person work — I'd do some, she'd do more of it — and then I'd do everything technical behind the scenes. I'd take all the files and crank them out into blog posts, books, and videos, set people's YouTube channels up. Some people might even want to get their own livestreaming vlog studio set up like I've got, where they could just tell their story themselves on camera.
What's so cool is that most people doing this kind of business right now have a fixed offer — you're going to pay this much money and you're going to get a book, and that's all. With me, you can have it how you want it. I can set up anything you want to share your story and preserve it. I think this woman I'm dating and I could team up and have an incredible business, making great money doing work that's very valuable in the world together, and then we could each do our own content out of joy, and we could make our own content together.
Picking Her Up From the Airport
I'm so grateful I had a really nice call with her yesterday, and I'm going to pick her up from the airport when she gets back, which will be great — because after seeing each other for like 12 hours in the first week of meeting each other, we're going to have a week and a half where we haven't seen each other at all in person. She's so cute. I asked, "You want me to pick you up from the airport?" I'd already asked my mom, "Can you take the kids while I pick her up from the airport?" and my mom said yes. And this woman goes, "Well, you know, I could just take an Uber, it's no big deal." Then she goes, "Oh, there's this guy from pickleball, I could have him pick me up — he's really nice and he always enjoys spending time with me." And then she kind of realized what she was saying and goes, "I mean, he's a lot older, you know, he's just a friend." I said, "Listen, I'll come pick you up. I really want some time with you, and I will come pick you up. I'll be happy to be the first person you think of to pick you up." We had such a nice conversation.
She was out running during the call, and at one point she said, "Oh, I almost got hit by a car." I said, "God, if you bring this woman into my life and then hit her with a car, I don't know if I can handle that." I prayed it. I couldn't handle it if that happened. Please don't do that. That would be really horrible.
Opening My Heart to Everyone, Not Just Her
I had such a nice day connecting with her, and I spent so much time connecting that I realized: okay, I'm so enthusiastic and opening my heart to this girl, and I care so much about her — who else in my life do I need to open my heart up to and connect with also? So I went down through my phone list yesterday and started sending out all kinds of voice memos. I called my friend from college and talked to him for over an hour — we had a really nice conversation. I got a dinner scheduled with my nephew yesterday. I sent a five-minute voice memo to some of the people who helped me really transition over the last year, through my separation and divorce. I spent about 40 minutes on the phone with the woman I'm dating. And I talked with my brother yesterday for an hour and a half, which was nice, because we had a hard time for a while.
Here's what happened with my brother: I didn't want to go to his wedding. He was getting married for the second time — he got divorced, and he was marrying a woman about a decade younger than him who wanted to have kids. Subconsciously, I was so jealous. I was thinking, that's what I want. But I only realized months later that I couldn't go to my brother's wedding without facing my own jealousy. Lots of times it's easier to just be angry and judge someone else instead of looking at what's actually going on inside us when these feelings come up. I eventually acknowledged that to my brother and apologized, but we didn't talk for months. I didn't go to his wedding, and we didn't talk. Then I reached out to him, apologized about the wedding, had a call with him a few weeks ago, and realized I needed to catch up with my brother. So I talked to him for an hour and a half yesterday and had a great conversation with him.
Between my brother and my friend from college, I spent at least three hours on the phone. I also went to a men's meeting yesterday, which was really good — it's an AA meeting, and I'm going to keep going to that one as much as I can. Then I spent over an hour at my mom's house too. So I spent so much time with people in person yesterday. I dropped the kids off at their camp yesterday morning, and I had a great conversation with my ex's sister's ex-husband — we had such a nice talk. I think I did my vlog after I played tennis yesterday. So I enjoyed a day of a lot of connection, and I filmed a couple of things — an ICP video and my vlog. In the past, I would have stressed out about my work right before a trip. But I thought, what? I'm going to relax. I need to focus on some real human connection with people.
My Brother Thinks I Get Too Excited — Here's Why I Disagree
I'm very excited telling everyone about this woman I'm dating and getting their feedback. My brother, though — he said, "I hope that works out for you," but he was pretty critical of my entire approach. He said, "You always get really excited, and I don't understand how you're so optimistic. You get excited about stuff — like, this business is going to be it — and then it doesn't work out." And I said, well, here's the thing. If it doesn't work out, I just get excited about something else, and whatever does work out goes really well precisely because I was so excited about it.
So I figure, with this woman I'm dating — I don't think I've ever been this excited about a woman before, and I think that gives it a chance to work out and to be something more amazing than I've ever had before. I don't have to worry about "well, what if it doesn't work out?" If it doesn't work out, I'll try again — that's what I'll do. I'll do everything I can to make it work out, and I'll deal with it if it doesn't. There's no reason to go around hedging your bets in life all the time. I'm optimistic because I focus on what I love most of the time and on what I want to happen — and then on who I need to be to facilitate all of that.
Asking ChatGPT Which Bible to Read
I also asked ChatGPT what kind of Bible I should get. I've been reading the Bible the woman I'm dating gave me — her friend who baptized her gave it to her. And I realized there are different translations of the Bible, so maybe I should consider which version I'm reading. Sometimes I read the version I have — it's an English translation, EVB or something like that — and I think, okay, I don't understand at all what I just read. I don't understand any of the context. So I asked ChatGPT, "Which version of the Bible do you think would be best for me to read, given my history?" It suggested I get the NLT — New Living Translation — Life Application Study Bible. ChatGPT said that if you're willing to spend a little more, you get the NLT Life Application Study Bible, and the notes are practical rather than academic: instead of only explaining history, they answer "How does this apply to my life today?" And that's exactly what I'm looking for. I want to read the Bible with a look at how it applies to my life right now, and at what context it was written in. I need something that's a bit more beginner-friendly at this point, with a translation that's very easy to read, so my mind can actually take the information in.
That said, I am reading the Bible the woman I'm dating gave me, and I've been reading it every day. I got up first thing this morning and read through the end of Matthew — through the Last Supper, the betrayal, the resurrection. I read through all of that this morning, and it was very familiar, because I've heard that part a lot of times. Especially for the Old Testament, though, I feel like you need some handholding reading through it. Even the New Testament, going through it for the first time — I need some help with that.
I'm so grateful for all the human connection yesterday. With the woman I'm dating out of town, and the kids at my ex's house last night, I thought, I want human connection today. And I had a beautiful, wonderful experience with my mom last night.
When Can I Tell Her I Love Her?
Opening my heart up and loving this woman I just met so much, I wonder — I wonder when I can tell her I love her. Because I certainly feel it already. We put all these rules on things, like "this should happen first" and "that should happen first." I felt this unconditional, deep love within the first 24 hours of meeting her. So do I need to wait an arbitrary amount of time before I express it that way? I've certainly talked around it quite a bit. And I don't know — I don't get it.
But in feeling all this love for her, I thought: who else needs more love in my life? If I can love her this way, and we just met, can't I do better with my mom? She actually asked me, "How's your relationship with your mom?" And I said, "It's good." But the more I've thought about it, the more I realized it could be great. I can do more.
What I Told My Mom Last Night
So I told my mom last night, "Look, Mom, I'm sorry for the times where I've abandoned you, where I've had too much of you, where I didn't talk to you for a few months." And I said that going forward, I intend to be there for her no matter what. I cried a little bit telling her that. And I said, "Mom, thank you for showing me unconditional love, because you've been there for me no matter what, my whole life." When I had a few months where I didn't talk to my mom — I think it was a couple of years ago — she wrote me this whole long book while I wasn't talking to her, about my life and her life and everything, and what I meant to her. No matter how much she was suffering, no matter what was going on in her life, no matter what I was doing, my mom has shown me unconditional love. She's always there. She always loves me. Her love doesn't change, and it doesn't vary.
That's a huge thing — that's the biggest gift you can get from a mother as a child: to have a mom that always loves you. A mom that doesn't cut you off or say you're dead to her, or demand that you act a certain way, but a mom that just loves you no matter what. That is an incredible gift. And here's something I believe from my own experience: I actually remember choosing my mother. Before I had one of these bodies, I remember choosing to come here — I chose my mother and my father. So I told her, "Mom, I chose you. And I'm here until the end of your journey. I will stick with you."
Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to wreck my whole life to be there for my mom. But it does mean I focus on serving my mother as a primary thing — anything I can do to help her that I can, without sacrificing the rest of my life. To be sure, I'm not just going to hang out at her house all day. But if I can help her, if there's something I can do to be of service to her and it aligns with the rest of my life, I will do it.
The opposite of that was when she fell and broke her hip. I said, "I don't want to go see you in the hospital. I don't like how you've been taking care of yourself. It's not my fault you broke your hip, and I'm not visiting you." In the future, if that happened, I would go visit her. That doesn't mean I'd need to be at the hospital night and day, but I would show up at least, and I would give what I could based on what availability I had in the rest of my life — instead of just saying, "No, that's not my problem, I don't like hospitals, you should have been taking better care of yourself." That was a test of faith, though. It's amazing that she could love me through that.
A 60-to-1 Condensed Life
My shirt still smells like my mom's house from last night. What a gift I have — that a mother has loved me like that. And what a gift that I can love a woman like that too — that I can love my partner, the woman I'm dating, like that as well. I'm so grateful for the chance to practice that.
This is why I love doing these vlogs. These are the most meaningful parts of my life over the last 24 hours — essentially my life condensed, turning every 60-minute hour into about a single minute. That's a 60-times reduction — minus the time I slept, I guess. That's what's so beautiful about it.
Helping You Share Your Story
I'm grateful I'm seeing clearly that my purpose, with everything I know how to do, needs to be helping other people share their stories and their human experiences like this. There are tons of people I know who would love to have me help them. I'm going to get the Google ads set up, and I'm going to talk to the woman I'm dating about it — hey, I think we can make a great business out of this, you'll love doing it, and it will pay all our bills. And if you'd like help, I can work completely remotely as well — I know everything you need to know to do everything like I'm doing, or to simply share your story. You're welcome to schedule a one-on-one call with me and we can talk about preserving yours.
If you want to follow along with this whole journey from the first date onward, I've collected these daily vlogs in my Dating playlist on YouTube. I'll be doing the vlogs on the road tomorrow and over the next few days in Michigan, so I hope you enjoy those.