I stumbled into soul music at a very young age. It had something that really spoke to me. — Erik Hassle

I stumbled into soul music at a very young age. It had something that really spoke to me.

Author: Erik Hassle

Insight: There's something honest about admitting you didn't plan your own interests—you just fell into them. We're taught to think of ourselves as deliberate choosers, curating our lives like carefully constructed playlists. But the truth is that the things that move us most often find us by accident. A song plays in a car. A friend mentions a book. Something clicks before your rational mind even catches up. Soul music, or any art that genuinely reaches you, works because it speaks to something beneath explanation. When Erik Hassle describes that early connection, he's pointing at something most of us know but rarely acknowledge: the best parts of our identity aren't selected through research or logic. They're discovered through stumbling, through being in the right place at the right time, through unexpected resonance. This matters now more than ever, actually. We live in an age of infinite choice and algorithmic recommendations, where everything's optimized for us. Yet the experiences that actually shape who we are often come from serendipity—from not knowing in advance exactly what you needed until you encountered it. The lesson isn't to be passive, but to stay open. Pay attention to what moves you unexpectedly. Those moments of unplanned collision between you and something authentic? That's where real growth happens.