The magic of reaching out

In the 3 first months of the company history, I’ve reached out to over 75 people I’ve known over the years and hadn’t talked to recently, in some case 10 years.

Reconnecting has been a joyful experience, and I’d recommend it to everyone to try.  Send a text, make a call, send an email asking to have a conversation over the phone, Zoom, Teams or other videoconferencing platform or in person if you are both local.

You’ll be amazed at what you learn; family changes, work changes, changes in political thinking (be careful here 😊).  In some cases, you may learn negative news that you didn’t know; one friend of mine’s wife had a bad stroke in the years between our last conversation and our catchup breakfast when I was in town at a city where I had lived previously.

As you get older, you may find out that your friend is gone.  I had that unexpected shock when I reached out to someone who had authored some books sitting right on my bookshelf and often referenced by me. He had died earlier this year, and I had no idea.

In another case, there was some big fence mending to take place; we’d had a major falling out over some business issues and reaching out and the time prior was a nerve-racking experience to say the least. Fortunately, it all worked out well, when both people are willing to overlook the past and focus on the future, time can indeed heal all wounds.  Friendship rebuilt…..

Friends are a precious resource!  Make the effort to find the old ones and connect. If it takes away from your solitary TV time, great.  If it stimulates great memories from the past and a few laughs, even better than therapy.

Photo by Daniel Fazio on Unsplash