Fuck yeah or Maybe no

I met him in Hakone, Japan, almost two years ago. We bonded over being American, our love for travel, and shared curiosity for the weird corners of the world. Fast forward to Washington, and I am sitting across from him again, eating Xiao Long Bao, meeting his partner who flew in from Poland. Time had passed, but it felt like no time had passed at all.

He has a rule now for the people in his life, the “Fuck yeah” test. Simple. Brutal. Would you get coffee with them? Only people who earn a resounding fuck yeah make the cut. Everyone else gets quietly filtered out, friends, acquaintances, Instagram follows. He now follows fewer than thirty people.

It is shocking in its simplicity. I scroll through my own feed and freeze. How many of these people would I actually get coffee with? How many earn a fuck yeah from me? The digital connections feel less real under this lens.

The test is not about judgment. It is about clarity. About focusing your energy on the people and moments that matter. About saying yes to authenticity and no to obligation.

I part ways with them thinking about my own life. Maybe I do not need to see everyone. Maybe I need to spend more time connecting deeply with a few. Maybe the best adventures are not in exotic countries, but in the people who make us feel alive wherever we are.