The journey of 1,000 miles...

So, it's been a little over two weeks since I set sail from Chicago in my van in hopes of seeing the country, connecting with people, exploring the world of hybrid work, leaning into my partnership with Mara without the comfort of physical proximity, and having lots of time for reflection, meditation, and introspection.

To address one major question at the outset. LinkedIn is the only place where I am posting anything about this trip. I don't have Facebook or Instagram (for goodness sake, I am cyber-security and data privacy paranoid, I refuse to participate on that tenet alone).

On the whole, I'm happy to declare that things are off to a great start. Here are a bunch of thoughts and observations in no particular order:

1. It wasn't my intention, but I seemed to have struck a nerve with my original post. This is the most engaged with piece I have ever published on LinkedIn and so many of you commented and wished me well. More than that, I have flooded with support and offers of meals and a place to stay along my way. I am overwhelmed by the love and support. Super important people like Kirk Armstrong (on his Birthday no less!), Brian Bitler, and Kurt Allen's amazing one-eyed Chihuahua, Lacy, made time and space for me, sometimes on a moments' notice.
2. It's OK to not be OK, in fact, after the last two years, no one is feeling their best, and that's more than OK! I have had countless people reach out and thank me for being open and vulnerable with my journey and I am humbled by that feedback. But let me be clear, this is not an act of courage, it's an act of self preservation and one that I hope leads to immense personal growth and to a place where I will be stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally. So many people have reached out and talked with me about their challenges and their hopes for what's next. Thank you to everyone who has, it's important for all of us to realize we are not alone. Someone said to me "I don't want to burden anyone with my issues". I promise, it's not a burden, it's a gift to trust someone enough to share your feelings. As I have been saying the last two weeks, I don't know anyone walking around saying, "man, the last two years have been the best of my life, more of that please!" Whatever you may be feeling, find someone to share it with, I promise someone wants to listen. Speaking to my fellow menfolk in particular, open up and share, the alternative of holding in and choking down doesn't generally end well for us.

3. Someone can be at the top of their game, successful by all measures, gregarious, and happy and still be dealing with personal challenges. So many of us, myself included, have worked so hard for so long to present am image of success and even perfection that everyone just assumes we are all good and have it all figured out. Sometimes we do! other times we don't. It's a reminder that a friend or colleague can be at the top of their game and it's still a great time to slow down and ask them "how are you doing right now?" and really mean it. The human mind and emotions are incredibly complex, it is more than possible to be killing it in many areas of your life and silently struggling in others. Case in point, at the same time I am on this journey, I received the honor of being named one of the 50 influential leaders in the telecom and technology channel alongside so many amazing people I lost count (never mind, it's 49). I was able to have dinner in Atlanta with fellow recipient and all around great guy Zane Long where we talked about life, business, and the future. I love mixing business and the personal. It's true that it never feels like work when you're doing it with friends.

4. I am not on a sabbatical! Far from it, in fact, I haven't felt so clear-headed about work in a long time. It turns out when you strip away many of the endless stream of Zoom meetings and focus in on what's important on a daily basis, your work is stellar. I'm also learning to work in a non-linear fashion for the first time in my life. I know this story will become apocryphal but early on, I was in the back woods of Kentucky on a Tuesday and had finished all of my scheduled meetings. I quick checked in on Mara and mentioned that while I didn't have anymore web meeting scheduled, I still had a bunch of work to do, which was shame since there was a mountain bike hill right behind me. She sat silent for a moment before, with all of the love imaginable, saying "Jack-ass, this is the point. Go ride your bike, you can fire up your laptop when it's dark out after dinner" I was raised to work from 7 to 7 and have been doing so for 25 years, It's a tough habit to break, but honestly, this is the way knowledge work should be. Old fogeys like me need to stop feeling guilty about not punching a clock and lean in to the natural ebbs and flows our brains and the work provide us.

5. Living small has been good for me (not too small- I have an espresso machine and bean grinder on board, I'm not an animal). The confined space has led me to really focus on what I really need and more importantly, don't. I have been thinking about food, water, and waste very differently the last two weeks, more on that in some future ramblings, as it warrants it's own space. More than that, when you are in the great outdoors, you are always reminded that you are small and the time you occupy space in the physical realm on this planet is truly the blink of an eye on the grand scale of time. Seeing rock formations that are millions of years old is a great reminder to try to fully live every minute of the few years we have on this planet.

6. Lastly, there are a TON of Deadheads in the industry. I swear you put one Jerry lyric in a post and you get bombarded with texts and comments with all manner of Grateful Dead lyrics. It makes sense, since there seems to be an apropos lyric for just about every situation you can think of and like a Dead show, the industry attracts all manner of interesting and kind people.

That's all for now. I will try to post updates on a somewhat regular basis, but it's not my biggest strength to do so, but I will try, thanks to all who have expressed interest in hearing about them. Please keep the good thoughts, texts, and calls coming they are fuel for me on this journey. I hope to see you all soon, until then, May the four winds blow us all safely home...

Sending Love from the Road,

Dave