Talk to Strangers

The ripple effect. That was it. The idea that one’s action, no matter how small, could create huge waves of subsequent impact.

He was doing both: building while having fun. I had never seen anything like it. Work and success could be fun.

Not in the, “I watch that show,” kind of way but in the, “I know everything about everyone in that show, quiz me,” kind of way.

There was a relentless optimism within Thomas. If my instinct was to point out the dirt, the problem, the thing getting in the way, then his was to find the gold, the solution, the thing that would keep us going.

On my eighth birthday, I went from having a packed squad of little homies to two friends whose language I was just learning to speak. Although those two friends made it bearable, that day haunted me from then on.

But most serendipitous of all was the fact that we were all on the same wavelength, energized by the same thing: a deep desire to live fully and make a dent in the universe.

paused. I liked the idea, but I had a company, a part-time job, and worst of all, severe anxiety.

Fun was long conversations with people, time alone, writing, reading, and reflecting.

As I sat down next to him, he looked at me and said, “What about … Yes Theory?” I let it sink in. “I kinda like it.” “Because what we’re doing is a theory, right? We don’t have the answers, we’re just seeing whether saying ‘yes’ will lead to anything. So far it has, but we’re still testing. It’s like making our lives one big experiment, you know?”