What Are We Doing Here?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been looking for a reason to explain being alive since I can remember. Of course there’s no right or final answer, but this question keeps coming back to me — that is, until I found my personal answer.
We are here to connect.
We learn who we are by contrasting our actions to other people’s. We mimic what we think is correct and we reject (and do the opposite of) what we think is wrong. In between other people’s shapes, we shape ourselves.
“I am because we are.”
The understanding of ourselves as a part of something bigger is either felt or seeked. And as I write this and repeat to myself, “I am because we are”, I can just sense all my cells vibrating and feel butterflies in my stomach, as if my body is agreeing with my mind.
“I am because we are.”
And why is this important to your professional life?
It is because our professional lives are part of our lives. Honestly, the real question is: how are our professional lives different from our personal lives, and why do we consent that difference? In both situations, we are humans in contact with other humans. We are connecting. Or at least we should be.
When we connect to others, we break our walls. I feel that my world gets bigger every time I go to a new place or talk to a new person. There are so many thoughts, outlooks, and points of view that I’m unable to imagine by myself, unless somebody else facilitates a new line of thinking. By sharing my experiences and by learning others’ experiences, I get to imagine what it is like to walk in their shoes and I get to see many more possibilities compared to before. The world grows — and it keeps on growing.
We are amazingly capable of putting ourselves in the shoes of another being. We are amazingly capable of looking into somebody else’s eyes and sharing emotions without even opening our mouths. We are amazingly capable of noticing how the other person is feeling just by the tone of their voices or the shape of their eyebrows.
“I am because we are.”
And talking about work, when we let connections happen, we are also more successful in professional interactions. Want to bring in more donors? Want to bring in more volunteers? Tell them a story. Tell them your story. Allow them to connect to you, to your organization, to your mission.
Allow yourself to connect. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Revision by Isabelle Jade.
LET’S CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION!
The comments below are open and ready for your inputs.
