HELLO FROM A STRANGER

Video Re-Cap:

When you really interact with the world, you stand out - And people do not forget you. There is almost nothing more simple than sharing in the lives that are around you - Asking how someone is doing, asking their name, noticing an accent… Genuinely listening. This costs us absolutely nothing and gains us everything. For these moments are so sincere and human, that they separate you immediately from the 90% of people who are in their own heads or are worried about every thing they say that they end up doing nothing. 

There’s even more though - When you have these human interactions, that is now someone that will remember you. And they will smile when they see you again. And they will open up to you even more on the next time and that relationship will continue to build, if you would like it to. All from a simple hello. All from such a simple interaction.

No one is going to bother you if you’re just staring at your phone. 

See, one thing I hear all the time in conversations is “It’s impossible to raise children with technology these days” or “I need to have my phone on me because X” - So I go to countries where people cannot afford to have such luxury or comfort. I go there to remember how possible it really is. When I walk through towns where everyone is comfortable, they are silent. People are indoors, in air conditioning, watching television shows and staring at phones. It’s silent. 

When I go where people cannot afford such luxuries, these towns are alive. There’s no reason to be inside so everyone is outside. No one is staring at phones so they’re all talking to one another. Singing. Dancing. Playing. There’s long conversations in the parks, people that sit for hours and just listen to music from a band, wandering out of curiosity. 

So when people tell me it is impossible to live without technology, I can’t help but ask them if they’ve traveled. And when they did, were they paying attention? That’s all they need to do to remember that not only is it possible, it’s crucial to life and needed now, more than ever.

It’s the noise - The noise is what gets me the most. The amount of life between a third world country city and a first world country is indescribable and so stark that it needs time to absorb the shock. And the most interesting part about that is - It’s actually the most normal thing possible. They have it better figured out than we do, on the importance of relationships and connection. It is so rare when I see people sitting alone - The large majority of the time there is at least one person with them.

You know what the world tells you when you interact with it? ‘It was my pleasure’. It means so much to them. 

What I do is selfish. Because I truly do still do it for myself… To remind myself why life is very worth living. Because I feel my lightest in experience. In travel. In movement. 

And I do only one thing. I throw myself into as much experience as possible to see what I make out of it. 

When I’m traveling with other people, I’m always just doing. We’re talking to each other, compromising. So I need time by myself to actually do something with the inspiration I had found in my experiences. Or it just melts away.

There is ALWAYS risk in life. There are sharks in the ocean. There are bears in the woods. But that doesn’t keep me out of the woods.

Instead, I educate myself on the risk involved and take what tools I can that could help me. 

But then I go into the unknown. Life has never been about squeezing one more day into the length of it - But cramming every bit of experience in the time that I have.