Trying new things means meeting new people from worlds that you’ve never even imagined. That may seem like hyperbole. I’ve worked in a people-facing career all my life. How can I have been unaware of these worlds? I didn’t think I was. I tried to keep up with current events. But understanding what peoples’ experiences were in other fields, was something about which I had no idea. I knew the education field, and that was it.
Self-Contained Worlds
If you wanted to understand how to set up your classroom, plan lessons, keep students’ attention, and deliver lessons for students at multiple grade levels, I could show you. I could do it while also settling a disagreement between your student and students in two other classes, that happened over lunchtime, when you weren’t there to see it. Education is its own world with its own ecosystem. When you’re in it, you don’t notice the other planets. I’m certain that this is the case for other fields too: they’re self-contained.
Ignorance Limited My World View
But, what’s involved with running a business? I had no idea. What’s it like to study the conservation of amphibians? I’d never given it any thought. How do you communicate with organizations? Not a clue. How do you get a book written, published, and marketed? I could only guess. Now I’m meeting people who do these things, and more! It’s fascinating!
Meeting New People With New Experiences
At a recent in-person event, I met people with a variety of ways to heal others that I had never heard of before: harmonic eggs, spinal flows, and tattooing. In an online group that I recently joined, I’ve chatted with people around the world who are writing fascinating books, and people who help others expand their ability to move their bodies after years of stress/trauma.
Re-Creating A Self-Contained World
I’m beginning to realize the danger of pigeonholing myself in yet another ecosystem, that of the life coach. There are a lot of us out here, and it would be easy to associate exclusively with other coaches. That’s what I was doing for the past couple of years. While I was training to be a coach, and then getting started on my business, I interacted with a lot of other coaches. We all speak a similar language and approach things in a similar way. I didn’t know anything was missing. It felt as comfortable as being a teacher in the world of education.
The Excitement Of Branching Out
However, after branching out recently and meeting people from completely different backgrounds with completely different jobs, I’m getting a much more expansive view of the world.
Why does that matter? It’s having an effect on the possibilities that I see ahead for myself. Instead of limiting myself to what I knew, I’m seeing ways to connect what I know with new worlds. It’s exciting!
The Power Of Inter-Stellar Travel
Instead of being isolated in our own worlds, when we meet each other we learn from each other. Maybe my approach for teaching a bunch of unwilling 10 year olds, will be novel and useful for someone who has been isolated in the insurance world. Maybe not. But, the ways we have approached and solved problems in our fields are different. In coming together, we bring each other fresh techniques and perspectives. I’m challenging myself to regularly reach out and introduce myself to people from other worlds.
Are you living/working in a silo of similar people? If so, where can you branch out and meet people from other worlds? Comment below with your best places for meeting new people.
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