As I was getting ready this morning for another day of online classes with my middle school students and I was going through the schedule in my head a realization hit me. Last year during lunch I would walk through a park, by a gorgeous fountain to the Starbucks for some unwinding, regrouping, recharging and of course a sugar rush to get me through the day. I would usually sit quietly and do some work but I also enjoyed engaging with the customers as well. One day, I was having a conversation with a gentleman regarding kids, family, parenting etc… and I remember him telling me he could see how kids would easily connect with me because I was very disarming. That observation and the fact that he shared it with me helped lead me down the path of student empowerment that I am now on. My realization was that now because of all this “social distancing” (which there is nothing social about distancing, but that’s another topic) we can no longer enjoy random conversations with new people crossing our paths while relaxing and hanging out in public with our faces uncovered, at least not in California.
Any of you who know me, know that I thrive on meeting new people and rarely go without talking to someone while out and about. A friend once joked that if they left me in a restaurant to use the restroom by the time they got back, I would have made a new friend in that time. With WOO (Winning Others Over) as my #1 strength I discovered today how much quarantining is taking a toll on my personality. Obviously I have known that it is not natural for me and I have been struggling with it but not at this level. I didn’t realize how much various interactions through casual conversation with people I am just meeting works in my subconscious and helps influence decisions I make.
It is amazing to me how much human connection affects who we are especially since we tend to put so much pressure on ourselves to have all the right answers. When we stop, relax and genuinely enjoy someone else there can be so many lessons when we actually listen to others. I recently attended doTERRA’s virtual global connection convention which usually draws about 35,000 to Salt Lake City to attend but was done online via video this year. They opened with the seven founders reminiscing about how the company got started and took us through the process of going from grassroots, bottling oils in their living rooms, cashing in every penny that had and taking loans from family members to a billion dollar, global company with millions of customers by staying true to their mission of providing us with the purest oils and the growers with the purest business practices. As I listened, again I realized how their story has influenced me over the past 5 years to not give up with things get tough or challenging. Taking the easy route does not typically get the best results and if they could overcome all the circumstances they had to, I have the ability to do the same.
Whether meeting and chatting with someone in a coffee shop or hearing the story of people you don’t know personally but admire, our interactions with strangers can impact us in many ways. Given that Relationship Building is my dominant domain, I always find value in my interactions with others but until it has been all but take away I didn’t realize how much I am impacted by them. A good lesson to appreciate the small things in life because we never know how and when things might change.
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