Hi Friend,
What a week! I came home exhausted every night. Such a fulfilling feeling. Thursday and Friday were the conference I told you about last week. It went well with a few glitches, hiccups and challenges. The irony is I was concerned about the live streaming platform of Vimeo. I’ve never had any doubts about the pre-recorded videos that are hosted on their site.
Yet, during our conference they had a system wide outage that knocked out access to the hosted videos. Totally messed up one of our sessions. THEY WERE PRE-RECORDED VIDEOS!! I.could.not.believe.it! When telling some of our speakers it was something with Vimeo, it sounded almost ridiculous. But literally the videos disappeared from my folder and would not play during the conference. 😫
Here’s what’s even slightly crazier. Monday morning of this past week, all of my folders and files disappeared from Dropbox. I started getting emails Monday morning around 9am informing me I no longer had access to folders and then they were deleted. I WAS FREAKING OUT! I keep a lot of stuff on Dropbox. Some of my all time favorite pics, videos for the conferences and loads of Hawks Agency stuff resides there.
Gone. They were all gone! I was sick to my stomach. I hopped on Dropbox and fortunately had an incredible support person immediately start helping me. Thankfully everything was restored and I didn’t have to cry for days about my losses. (They have a great backup system)
What are the odds? Two global corporations who are basically hard drive storage in the cloud, both acting unexpectedly and with severe consequence. As with Dropbox, Vimeo came back and everything is good-to-go, but in the moment it was nauseating.
Everything we depend on is an act of faith!
Our reliance on technology, people, science, ourselves – all of it, whether intentional or not is rooted in our beliefs about them. Most of which is grounded in truth and facts, offering a feeling of super low risk. Yet all of them are fallible.
Is that the great revelation of adulthood? As kids there are so many absolutes. As young adults there is just potential and opportunity everywhere. As we progress in age, the reoccurring disappointments that inflict themselves deeply is the awarenessthat what we thought was so certain, is not. It happens in many forms, in different seasons and through unexpected channels. Yet look at us, getting up today and believing we’re gonna have a good day! 👊🏼
We’re dependent creatures. As much as our society touts independence we’re incredibly reliant on so many layers. The paradox is the more structures, tools, resources and pathways we create to be independent the more incarcerated we become to them. The price of convenience is freedom.
Dependence Positivity : Family, friends, community and strangers.
Maybe it’s another adulting revelation. We strive for so long to be independent and then reverse course aspiring for connectivity. There is an upside to being dependent. Primarily, we don’t have to be self-reliant. I’m as content as the next person to trust myself to do, accomplish, proceed and progress. But how cool is it when someone else relieves us from that effort, because they do it better, smarter, faster or different?
Everyone sees uniquely. I can look up at the stars and see the moon, while someone else see Mars. I can see a situation as complex and another sees it as simple. I can see opportunity where another sees risks. I benefit from those eyes. 👀
Instigating Ideas
1. What’s something you once considered absolute and now no longer do?
2. Who do you know that is reliable? Appreciate them this week.
3. Try to be less reliant on technology this week and see if you can function.
4. Who is relying on you and how can you increase your support?
I feel satisfied with the exchange I’ve made in light of dependence, freedom, technology and expectations. I was surprised and disappointed this week by the unexpected. Yet here I am Saturday morning, up writing you again. Apparently I survived. Probably another adult revelation. When I was younger I couldn’t see past the upcoming pressing thing, whatever it was. Now I am completely assured tomorrow will come. Yet, one day, that won’t be true either.