Sitting on a folding chair, listening to yet another Zoom call and strategically muting my microphone to muffle the aftermath sounds of Taco Tuesday coming from a family member in the all too close bathroom, I had a revelation. It wasn’t about the bathroom. Hopefully it was a little more profound than that. The revelation was that I can change the world, and you can too!
Sounds crazy, right? I know. But most things I do lately are a little crazy. What’s crazier is that these outlier activities I have been doing are consistently making my life better.
When I started this trip I was worried. To be real, I was scared. Scared about losing my job, ruining my marriage, getting sick on the road, my kids falling behind in school, …. the list was long. The only way I could get past these fears was to name them, write them down and find mechanisms to minimize these fears. One of my biggest fears was missing out. Specifically, missing out on my connections with my friends and family. The mechanisms I wrote down for this fear were: Blogging, Making YouTube Videos, connecting with Facebook, making phone calls and sending postcards. All of these have helped me and my family. The one that resonated the most for me was sending postcards. So far along this trip I have sent over 200 postcards to friends and family. Not only has writing the postcards helped me feel connected, but the responses from those that received them have consistently delighted me.
Now, back to this Zoom meeting, and how we …can change the world. Not everyone chose my weird “isolation” that comes with traveling the country with your immediate family in a 400 square foot space. Most of the population has been thrust into isolation to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones from a once in a hundred-year pandemic. Some of the quotes I heard from my peers and friends on this Zoom call were:
“When will it get back to normal?”
“I miss connecting with friends.”
“I am an extrovert’s extrovert and this pandemic is so draining.”
“Really, I’m just bored as hell.”
The people on this call had unique situations and lives. But, these same common feelings are being experienced around the globe by many.
So how can we change the world? CONNECT!
Call to action #1: Send me your name and address so I can connect with you. If you do, I commit to getting you a postcard.
Call to action #2: Connect with someone around you in a meaningful way.
Together I know we can change the world for the better.
Safe travels!
Ben
I love this, Ben!! You, Sarah, and the boys have learned so much on this adventure!!
What great thoughts Ben!! This adventure has been truly life changing!