This morning I woke up early and went for a run.  After a shower and getting ready for the day I spent almost the entirety of the next fifteen hours with other people.  Alone for but a short period of time, and then with other people for the rest of the day, and now alone to write today’s blog.

The funny thing is that I really like my time alone.  It gives me energy, I re-charge, I think, I relax, and I chill.  Becky knows when I’ve hit my limit on “people time” because I’ll start to get crabby and just need some time to myself.  That said, it’s also so easy to slip into too much alone time.  I find myself sometimes leaning to that side a little too much and there are times when I’m glad that life nudges me in the direction of more time with people.  Really, in a nutshell, that’s what I’m thankful for today, those nudges that remind me to stay connected.

Without getting into a debate about the entire story of Chris McCandless (read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer), there was a comment that he made that makes a lot of sense to me on a day like today…

Today I was reminded about this on many occasions.  Our training day was great and there were so many opportunities to connect with others in the class, the trainers, and other people in OKC that I only see every so often.  There was a moment to share my happiness with a team for hitting a goal for a second straight week.  I was able to connect with a teammate who’d been through this training before and we shared our experiences.  Becky and I were able to at least trade a handful of texts with each other throughout the day.  We had an excellent dinner with several of my fellow trainees and one of our founders, a meal in which we learned more about each other.  We took time to share where we came from, how we got here, and learn more about each others’ purpose.  There was so much connectedness and joy.

On the ride home I sat in the way back of the van, thinking that I’d like to have a little quiet and type my blog.  Fortunately, my friend Adam asked me a question about my blog and we started talking.  At one point he apologized and said he’d be quiet so I could type, but I closed up my laptop.  Where I needed to be in that moment was talking with him, connecting.  It was great!  While he was asking questions about this blog and gratitude I’m feeling like I got more out of the conversation being able to think and share why this is so important to me and my happiness.

Once I got back to the hotel I headed up to my room to type and then remembered that I had missed a call from my brother Nick earlier in the day.  I knew that if I called him I would probably be too tired to run in the morning so I shot him a text instead.  Shortly afterwards I thought of how much I would’ve liked to talk with my dad more and wished I’d taken the opportunity to more often.  With that in mind I called Nick and we shot the bull for a good 30+ minutes.  The conversation was mainly focused on laughing and TV, but there were also a couple of things we both needed to talk about that were more serious.  It was great to have that extra conversation time with him, to connect with him.

Now as I blog I’m finally alone.  As I think about it my day was so enriched by the connections that I had with other people today.  Yes, I’m going to need some quiet and alone time soon, but there will be time for that at some point.  The joy that I have today has come from being connected with others.

Thanks!!!