It started with a hope that this wasn’t going to be another wasted hour meeting someone who doesn’t get me and I will never want to catch up with again. No one doing anything worthwhile really has time for that! Quickly it progressed to a feeling of curiosity. Could this person actually be one of the 0.000001% that actually gets me? It wasn’t long before it dawned on both of us that we were from the same tribe!
We were talking over each other in no time, so much energy and excitement to share a ‘me too’ story! Connecting the dots of two strangers who saw the world the same way and are trying to experience it with similar paths. Business and entrepreneurialism was the obvious connection but soon families, travel, hobbies (yes surfing) and language aligned.
We all know that as humans we want to connect with others. We are learning that whilst technology has enabled more connection (which you all know I love), face to face connection is still top of our list. But it is not just connection we need. We need to connect with those like us. Those who come from the same tribe. Not a tribe from the same country, affluence, or religion, a tribe from the same mindset and heart. We want to connect with others whose heart beats in tune with our own.
I believe that many issues relating to depression, anxiety, loneliness and addiction have a connection to feeling like we don’t belong. But we all do belong, no matter how unique we may think we are. We just have to make sure that we regularly connect with the tribe we belong to. It can be hard to find those people, but we must never give up our search because when we find them we become inspired to be ourselves.
I left this meeting with plans to catch up again soon, excitement in my belly, drive to keep striving for my dreams and a calmness that I am not alone. I had that feeling you get when you meet someone from your tribe!
