Sharing the journey

I realized I've been telling my journey advice quite a bit recently and it's been rolling around in my head for more than 10 years now, so perhaps it's time I put some of this into text to share with a wider audience.

You are on a journey, I'm sure you have heard this before, more than once, but the thing is you may not realize the gravity of this statement. When you feel someone isn't seeing your experienced point of view it can be quite a challenge to consider how you can truly share the weight of this wisdom. The difference is, you took a journey to get to that point and whoever you are talking to most lightly hasn't.

Walking a mile in someone else's shoes isn't just about understanding where they are, but also when they are. The danger is we are locked in a pair of glasses that are made up of all the experiences we have had in the past, we each see the world differently.

A simple exercise to get your mind into this space, 10 years ago, were you the same person as you are today? The answer is almost always no. We change, we eat different foods, we may have moved to a new home, experienced a tragedy, found and lost friends, changed jobs or even companies a few times. A lot can happen in 10 years, and you need to imagine yourself from back then looking forward to see where you are now. There's a very good chance you had absolutely no idea you'd be where you are today.

In this same way, others can't jump forward in time to get to a space in their life journey that will align with what you are saying now. There are many techniques to help them go faster, but its just not going to be instant. Just like when you read a good book it changes you, so you need to guide people in a way that allows them to see these facts for themselves.

If you want to effect honest change in the way people think, then you have to be ready to walk them along your journey and be very clear that they still may not come to the same conclusions you did.

If you find yourself on the other side of this conversation, then it's wise to hear everybody out and then carefully choose what you will take away from this. We each find wisdom in different places and if we are willing to open up to that wisdom is how we can grow much more quickly. We can avoid mistakes others have made, get a better understanding of the journey we are on and even find new destinations we didn't realize existed.

In the end, in this crazy world of technology, we are still just a lot of crazy human beings hanging onto this wet blue ball spinning around the sun. We need to give each other the space of understanding that even if we are in different places, we can share our journey with others in the hope that it will help even one person in their life.