Good morning from New York City. Before I get started today, I’d like to say thank you to those of you who have sent me messages, text messages, voicemails about what is resonating. I have no idea how things are landing, so it’s good to get data points. Friday’s episode “On Choosing Rest’ really landed and I got multiple messages, so thank you. You know I love messages, so keep them coming.
Today, I want to talk about something that I mentioned in a past episode. For those who may have missed it, one of my objectives this year is to put myself in the way of interesting people, and that can mean a lot of different things. I am one of those people who always attends conferences. I love to go to lectures, yet I had cut that off to a large extent. I’m sort of back to putting myself out in the world and putting myself in the way of interesting people.
Friday, I got to attend an event called Pitch Please that my friend Susie Moore puts together every year. I attended as a volunteer, and it was fabulous. It reminded me why I like to be out in the world. Why I like to engage. I felt privileged to be sitting in a room of people from all over the country. It was fascinating to hear stories of reinvention, how people were seeking to serve and put their voice into the media. This event was called Pitch Please because the media comes together, and they were sharing what they’re looking for in a pitch – how they evaluate stories, how to frame the messaging, how to present a new angle on a theme that’s in the zeitgeist. The media were from digital media, television, print, and covering everything from lifestyle, health and wellness, money business. There were people from ABC, NBC, Katie Couric Media, N P R, Business Insider. It was fascinating and I learned a lot.
To give you an idea, there were about 50 people in attendance. They were from all over the United States – from Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Seattle, Washington. There were people coming out with books. There were a couple of lawyers, one of whom speaks to all things related to being a stepparent and blended families. She was very smart and articulate, and the media representatives responded to her a lot. Another woman was a former litigator. She was on Good Morning America last week because she is going to all 50 states to meet with a perfect stranger. Her goal is to shine a light on people and stories and what it means to come together when we are different. She’s trying to drive home the point, and the importance of remembering that we are more alike than we are different, especially in this moment, particularly in the United States that everything is polarized, politicized, and charged. She was very thoughtful and sweet, and I enjoyed meeting her.
Another woman was a Latina, I’m not sure her exact origin, and she came to the United States, I think in her early teens, speaks with an accent. Very smart, very articulate, and is working with non-native English speakers to speak and come across more confident and articulate in the interviewing process. There was a woman running for Congress.
I don’t want to go on and on about this. I guess the point I’m driving home here is I feel really energized by being around people that live a life that’s very different from my own and who have this mindset of encouraging other people, serving other people, seeking support, and honing their expertise and their voice. As I said, I felt lucky to be in the room. In one day, I was able to have conversation with at least 10 strangers from completely different walks of life, different parts of the United States, and it really sort of blew open my world. That’s what I was craving, and it didn’t take much. It all came down to raising my hand and volunteering and I really hope to do a lot more of that.
I hope you enjoyed hearing my story. I’m wondering if you’re feeling that your world is a little bit stale right now, or if it’s self-referential – you’re always seeing the same people and doing the same thing. Maybe you can think about doing something, shaking it up a little bit by taking a class or raising your hand to help or, I don’t know, trying something new and invent an adventure for yourself. It feels great. If you have something in the back of your head you think you might want to do, don’t forget how great it feels to be around people focused on accomplishing the same type of goal or learning the same type of skill.
You know, at the beginning of 2020, I had this sort of mantra for myself for the year, which was don’t hide, go seek, and then of course covid hit. I’m resurrecting that. Don’t hide, go seek.
