Hey, friends. Yeah, I know. It’s been a minute. We’ve both been busy, though, and you’ve had plenty going on so I bet you didn’t even miss me.
Hah, j/k I know you did. 😉
I missed you too! I promise it wasn’t wasted time, though. I’ve been up to some cool things and I’m excited to bring some of it back to you.
Several of the past few weeks have been dedicated to sharpening my teaching skills, and also travel (!!!). I saw mixes of new and old, deepened friendships and made some new ones, climbed a mountain and a few pyramids, too. Â It was adventurous and eye-opening and challenging at times. It was also a beautiful reminder of the reason I fell in love with travel in the first place. People.
Jon Kabat-Zinn famously wrote that “wherever you go, there you are.” No matter how far you roam, you’re the one roaming there. Depending on where you are in your life, that can be good news or not so much. But if you’re trying to learn about people whose lives appear on the outside to be very different from your own, it can change your perspective forever.
Everyone celebrates. Everyone feels scared. Everyone wonders what’s next. Everyone stares at the sky and dreams.
We are a world of stunningly diverse cultures and traditions, but our humanity is the same. Across the world, across the street, and across the conference table. No matter how challenging the conversation, the impulses, hopes and fears we each hold are the same. Encountering those things in others connects us directly to those experiences within ourselves. Connecting with them in ourselves helps us connect to them in others.
Wherever you go, there you are. All the more reason to go, with open eyes and an open heart. And of course, carry-ons only. 😉
