Yung Pueblo: Wisdom Begins When You Stop Fighting Change

Diego Perez (0:00)

I had to start telling myself the truth. And the truth was simple, like I just didn't feel good. And I had to start paying attention to my emotions. It was from there, I started making some changes. I put away the hard drugs, I stopped consuming anything that would really endanger me. And then about a year later, I started meditating.

A year later, it was when I first, I did my first silent 10-day retreat when I was 24 years old.

SPEAKER_2 (0:24)

Welcome to the Midlife Chrysalis podcast with Chip Conley, where we explore how midlife isn't a crisis but a chrysalis, a time of profound transformation that can lead to the most meaningful chapter of your life.

Chip Conley (0:40)

Welcome to the Midlife Chrysalis. This is Chip Conley, and my guest today is barely in midlife. He is turning 39 this month. He has a book coming out, his sixth book at age 38 He came out of nowhere. I mean, he's an Ecuadorian immigrant to the US at age four, was partying too much in his early 20s and found meditation, found that meditation became a conduit for writing, and published his first book in 2017, so nine years ago, self-published it, and it sold about 12,000 copies, and all of a sudden publishers look again like, well, who are you?

How did you sell 12,000 copies self-published? Next thing you knew, he was picked up by a big publisher, and boy, has he blown up. Yung Pueblo, also known as Diego Perez, is a New York Times best-selling author, and his story, but also his wisdom will give you some optimism. Give you optimism about the fact that things happen for a reason. Magic can happen out there. You don't have to be manic to find magic. Most importantly, that young people, younger people than us, for those of us who are boomers or Gen Xers, they have some wise folks amongst them. I think you're going to enjoy us. At the end, I'll tell you my three key lessons.

Diego Perez, also known as Yung Pueblo, welcome to The Midlife Chrysalis.

Diego Perez (2:07)

Thank you so much, Chip.

It's a real joy to be speaking with you. Our mutual friend, Sorin, has spoken so highly of you for years, so I've always known that at some point we were going to be able to interact, so just letting it out organically.

Chip Conley (2:22)

Well, I love this. I love that you are one of those people who shows that wisdom can come in at all ages.

Wisdom is not just the domain of older people. Maybe we start with that. What's your perspective on wisdom?

Diego Perez (2:38)

That it's something that can be cultivated.

For me personally, it's been cultivated most through silence and through using the Buddhist teachings. I've been meditating of Vipassana since 2012 I started taking it seriously in 2015 Started meditating daily. Then I started doing longer retreats about 2017 I've done a number of long retreats now. Silent 20-day long, 30-day long, 45-day long. Then just this year, I started with a silent 60-day retreat from January 1st to March 3rd.

To me, it's incredible how much you can learn about the structure of the universe by closing your eyes and pointing your attention inside of the body. And it's quite phenomenal that there is an intrinsic connection there between how minded matter fluctuate and combine together at rapid speeds and how that creates this world that we're constantly looking at.

Chip Conley (3:35)

So you're someone who came to the US from Ecuador when you were four years old?

Diego Perez (3:41)

Yeah, that's right. So I was born in Guayaquil. And my family, we came over here when I was about four, 1992 was the year we got to the United States. And I grew up in the inner city of Boston. And when I was growing up, it was really just the most prevalent memory I have is of my parents sort of arguing with each other every month about how to pay the rent. It was how to pay the same $700 rent every month. And it was challenging to see and confusing to see like how that struggle was non-ending and it was always there.

At the same time, they were always like how to put food in the fridge. It was the essentials of poverty.

And when I think back in my life, I'm like, what was my trauma? My trauma was poverty, was just growing up in a home where I'm grateful for what my parents are and what I learned from them. But at the same time, I saw that it felt like living in a submarine together. That was a little too far into the water.