About a year ago, I volunteered to be a Sidewalk Talk listener in San Francisco. I connected with total strangers by simply listening. We show up and hold a safe space for all people and all feelings. The experience was profound and led me to volunteer more time as both a listener and a local leader.
Fast forward to November 2016, many people including myself felt blindsided by the results of the U.S. Presidential election. It became clear to me that I had been in my liberal Calfornia bubble. I hadn't been listening. There was no real dialogue. Conversations were one-sided. Political discourse between citizens had evolved into a competitive sport characterized by name-calling, assumptions, and judgments. Facebook became the epicenter and sensational news stories were the engines for nasty comment threads. Even now, the level of frustration, fear, and disconnection is still extremely high.
Right after the election, Traci Ruble, the co-founder of Sidewalk Talk, had an idea that sounded intriguing. Why don't we go listen in conservative "red" states? The goal being to advocate for quality listening and human connection by offering public listening training and free listening on the streets. This energized me for many reasons:
- I believe listening is an important tool for community-building and the type of dialogue necessary for democracy, in addition to, personal and professional success.
- I need to go outside my comfort zone and "walk my talk."
- I want to challenge myself to become better. Listening is a practice.
After five months of hustling, communicating, fundraising, and coordinating, this dream has become a reality. Tomorrow morning, we fly to Chicago to start our "On the Road 2017" listening bus tour. Six states. Seven days. Here's the schedule:
4/10/17: Chicago, IL
4/11/17: Indianapolis, IN
4/12/17: Louisville, KY
4/13/17: Nashville, TN
4/14/17: Birmingham, AL
4/15/17: Atlanta, GA
[Find out more info about the Sidewalk Talk On the Road 2017 listening tour.]
Getting ready for this adventure, I'm faced with excitement and uncertainty. I'm looking forward to traveling to parts of the country I've never been to before and connecting with people from these cities. Can't wait to meet the local volunteer listeners and have fun with my tour-mates. We have an itinerary but I'm also preparing to be flexible. I'm not sure how we'll be received on the streets and I'm curious to see what this experience awakens in me.
My intention for this trip is to be present, grounded, and open to a deeper understanding of people throughout this country. To be successful, I'm going to have to:
- practice some insane self-care given the demanding schedule
- assert my own energetic boundaries to enable me to be generous with others
- be self-aware and clearly communicate my own needs, feelings or concerns
- be willing to let go of my expectations and preconceived ideas
Before it all begins, I want to say THANK YOU to our sponsors Daymar College, SimplePractice, Birmingham Islamic Society, UAB Institute for Human Rights, Alabama Media Group, Stand As One Alabama, PsychedSF and all of the individual contributors who donated their time or money to make this trip possible. Big shout out to our beautiful and talented visionary, Traci Ruble, who dreams big and makes it happen!
Look out for my post-tour blog post on LinkedIn to learn about the highlights and key learnings from our trip.
Follow our progress on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.