Suicide

In a world obsessed with external threats, your biggest enemy might be staring back at you in the mirror.

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Dear Unlearners,

In Vietnam, there's a tragic tale of a princess named Mỵ Châu, daughter of King An Dương Vương. The king possessed a magical crossbow that protected his kingdom, Âu Lạc. When enemy forces couldn't defeat him, they sent the charming prince Trọng Thủy to marry Mỵ Châu.

Blinded by love, Mỵ Châu revealed the secret of her father's crossbow to Trọng Thủy, who stole it, leading to the fall of Âu Lạc. As they fled, the king used a magical sword to summon a golden turtle, who told him: "The enemy is right behind you." The king realized the threat was within. His daughter's action had led to their downfall.

The fall of Âu Lạc to Triệu Đà's army marked the beginning of the Bắc thuộc period - nearly a thousand years of Chinese domination. Vietnam means "South of Việt". Việt was originally a shortened form of Bách Việt, used to refer to people living in ancient southern China. Vietnam is what's left of Viet after thousands of years fighting for freedom.

This ancient tale carries a powerful message.

Sometimes, the greatest threat comes not from external forces, but from within ourselves .

Did you know? You are more likely to die by suicide than from being murdered.

In 2021, the overall suicide rate in the U.S. was 14.0 per 100,000 people, while the homicide rate was 8.2 per 100,000 people.

Mỵ Châu's trust became her downfall. Her actions led to the fall of my country. Vietnam spent the next thousand years fighting for independence from China. In a way, we had sabotaged ourselves.

But unlike her tragic tale, in life, our story isn't written in stone. We have the power to rewrite our ending.

Some changes may be beneficial, while others may create new challenges. The key is to view change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

I have been busy building an AI automation agency. I asked myself what if OpenAI pushes a new update and my work won't be relevant anymore. I realized it happened many times. Meta changes their algorithms all the time, my team is still running successful ads. Apple changed its privacy policy, and we are still making more money from email marketing more than ever. In the past 12 months, we made over 100M in attributed revenue.

Major updates from industry giants like Google, Meta or Apple can send shockwaves. These updates could kill entire business models, and lead to the downfall of countless companies. In my line of work, changes happen daily. We learn to adapt and figure out new ways to do things. That is how I managed to survive the last decade and help our clients become profitable.

“Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.”
― Josephine Hart

Very similar in tech. For example, Buffer, a social media management platform, began as a simple Twitter scheduling app. When Twitter (now X) introduced its own built-in scheduling function, it could have spelled disaster for Buffer. Yet, in 2023, Buffer reported an impressive $18.1 million in revenue.

They managed to survive by innovating and adapting. Instead of relying solely on their initial offering, Buffer expanded its services, providing more comprehensive social media management tools and analytics. They recognized the changing market conditions and pivoted to offer greater value to their customers.

The Choice is Yours

Just like the suicide vs. homicide stats, in life, the person who can sabotage you the best is yourself. We often forget this crucial truth. You can choose to give up, or you can choose to live and thrive. That choice is yours alone.

Continuing to live is the only right answer. Life is hard. Life is challenging. But we can't give up on ourselves. Unlike Mỵ Châu, we have the chance to learn from our mistakes and grow stronger. We don't have to let our moments of weakness lead to a thousand years of setbacks.

We are all damaged one way or another. We know we can survive. And in that survival mode, our ability to adapt and overcome, lies our greatest strength.

So, my dear Unlearners, let's take this lesson from ancient Vietnamese wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. Let's be aware of the threats within. Adapt to the changes around us. And always choose to move forward, to live, to thrive.

Because in the end, the power to write our own story lies within us.

Until tomorrow.

Love,

Cammi

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