“What person whom you don’t know very well in real life — it could be a blogger whose writing you enjoy, a friend you just recently made, etc. — would you like to have over for a long chat in which they tell you their life story?”

There’s so many people.

I love hearing people’s stories. The tale of their adventures.

What hardships have they faced? What loves have they lost? Where have they been and where do they want to go?

Who are they?

Listening to people is one of the things that makes me feel connected the most.

They are trusting me. A lot of the time the stories are extremely personal, leaving them vulnerable, and they are showing faith, respect, to me by sharing.

It makes me feel honored. Valued.

Our experiences make us who we are. They define and structure the way we think. They determine what we’re sensitive to, what we fear, what we enjoy.

Everyone is different. Everyone’s mind functions in a slightly different way.

I love listening and learning about those differences.

I love getting to actually ‘know’ a person.

And I feel the way you do that is through sharing. Talking. Conversation.

To truly know someone they have to expose the very core of who they are, what built them up, tore them down, and sculpted them into the wonderful, fantastic person they are today.

I want to hear everyone’s story, and if they talk, I listen, which is why I am so close with so many of my students, co-workers, and friends.

For the sake of this post, a handful of people I would like to talk with more would be:

My Mother Earth
Her fiancé, J
James
Tre
My mom
Frank

I feel there are chapters in those stories that I still haven’t heard, and people I feel I could talk with for hours, days, years, and still not get enough of their stories.