Over the weekend, one of the incredible leaders in the Amazon best-seller Leading Through the Pandemic: Unconventional Wisdom from Heartfelt Leaders posted a picture in our private Slack group of some delicious homemade bread that he had made. If you’ve read the book, you know who I’m talking about!
It started a conversation about winter weather, freezing temperatures, and snowstorms all across the country. Apparently, for many people it was a hot soup and warm bread kind of weekend!
I wondered what our Ozzie authors thought who are in the midst of summer. And I of course chuckled as I spent the weekend bike riding, running, and laying out in perfect mid-70s temperatures. I couldn’t add insult to injury by posting a beach picture in the group this weekend!
This conversation reminded me of two things: 1. How important our local environment is and 2. How important travel and experiencing new places is.
This past year, so many of us have been forced to stay at home or tighten our radius. You can’t get much more local than home! At the same time, if you’re plugged into any mainstream media sources, you’ve received a very broad and national look at events and opinions over the past year. These perspectives are almost always derived from the leaders living in downtown NY, DC, and LA.
What I was reminded of over the weekend is that not only are we not part of collective groups – we are individuals – but also that we are not all experiencing the same realities.
It’s an obvious point, but one I fear we forget when we all tap into social media and are shown a picture of reality that doesn’t match to the one on our ground. I felt so curious as I pondered my weekend and that of the leaders in my book. One stuck at home in a snowstorm. Another surfing in Australia. One returning from India. Me biking, running, and sweating along the beach.
How we live – and what we do – is, in part, shaped by our environment, weather included.
Which brings me to travel.
Last week I spent four days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a change of scenery. And let me tell you – I had completely forgotten how cold 30 degrees is! My ankle socks and light puff jacket did not cut it as a winter storm rolled in on the last day. It had been exactly one year since I had last seen snow while skiing the slopes of Heavenly in Tahoe. How quickly the body forgets!
I felt how the cold could shape you. How it could alter your attitude, diet (hello lumberjack skillet!), hobbies, and routines. I felt giddy walking through downtown as flurries fell from the gray ski. And I laughed as I did what I usually don’t do – wore my face mask outside – as it functioned as a ski mask protecting me from the cold wind!
As we left the resort early on Friday morning, we were shocked to find ice on our windows. I hadn’t planned for this delay! We didn’t have an ice – ice – ice – um, what do you call that thing? Ah ice scraper! So my friend poured water on the windows before I sent him to ask someone in the lobby if they had one. As he went on his mission, I took my credit card and used it to chip away at the ice that I could reach. It was all pretty comical!
I felt like a real Florida/California girl who has so little concept of the struggle that winter provides – and maybe the character and ingenuity it forges.
How I’ve missed travel and the window it provides into other worlds and ways of living! I feel like our cities have become so homogenized – you can go to the same Joe and the Juice in Oslo and San Francisco – that to venture into smaller towns like Gatlinburg was thrilling. And why it feels ever more important to preserve local businesses and culture from being taken over by the largest companies out there.
Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg felt like the “Las Vegas of Tennessee” to me as we drove through miles and miles of bizarre entertainment complexes. A Titanic-replica jutted out from one building. Another building was designed to look like it was flipped on its head. Christian-themed family dinner events were advertised on billboards. The whole experience gave me another view into the world as I imagined thousands of families trekking to the Smoky Mountains for summer vacation and seeking out daily entertainment and new experiences. It made me smile.
Curiosity. Openness. Engagement.
These experiences reminded me that we are living in an age where we are tempted to think we know everything because information is easily accessible. We must actively fight against this human desire to be omniscient and recognize that curiosity and observation are the tools to help us understand the world and people around us. And in doing so, we learn more about ourselves.
What’s the weather like in your neck of the woods this week?
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