Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail.<\/i><\/p>\n
In 2016<\/a>, it was the moment that I felt in the flow in telling the story of Ice Cream Travel Guide<\/a>. In 2015<\/a>, it was the moments after my hat was “stolen” in Rio. In 2014<\/a>, it was a moment in a writing workshop that I had achieved greatness. In 2013<\/a>, it was talking to Yasar Usta in Istanbul. In 2012<\/a>, it was using the ocean as a “big toilet” while floating outside Palawan. In 2011<\/a>, it was my birthday moment. In 2010<\/a>, it was the success in Journey to the End to the Night.<\/p>\n This year was full of ups and downs than the typical year. But was it those moments? When I executed a plan on quitting my job? Or when I went to constant protests and showing up to events? Or was it when I interviewed and received an offer? Or when I had decided that I didn’t care what people thought anymore? Or was it smaller\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhen I stopped being afraid of being quiet and spoke up, sometimes too much in a confrontational way (because of this year)?<\/p>\n I know that this year, it was less about the moments of ice cream. Although I still had some great ones at Wanderlust Creamery in LA and that constant flurry of great flavors at Garden Creamery in San Francisco.<\/p>\n What I do know was a moment that I had been at a conference earlier this year. It wasn’t about being on stage. It wasn’t about the fact that I got my talk accepted or that I stood in front of a huge amount of people telling a story that touched people. It wasn’t even after the talk when people came up to me and ask more about my thoughts. It was none of that.<\/p>\n It was the moment that stemmed from the moment that I had enough of skulking around one of the conference mixers, because I was having horrible social anxiety. For whatever reason, I was unable to connect with anyone. All conversations that I had fell flat and dwindled into nothing. Then suddenly, I found myself standing alone, awkwardly.<\/p>\n I had read Captivate<\/a> earlier and was trying to read the cues of where to interject. I wasn’t going to end up like the awkward person I was in college where I had failed to make connections because I never tried. I was going to try. But everything kept falling flat. I kept looking for the feet pointing outward, but I just couldn’t find it.<\/p>\n So instead, I finally headed to the patio (a place where I had awkwardly entered already twice by this point). There, I noticed a group of people stand up, leaving a seat on the sofa open. It seemed like a prime opportunity, but I knew that the potential could fall flat leading into a conversation of nothing.<\/p>\n And it started super awkwardly. But somehow I made a good impression when suddenly everyone wanted to get up and I shyly asked whether I could join. And when I suggested “ice cream”, everyone cheered and I immediately earned my place.<\/p>\n It wasn’t exactly that moment. During that first night, I was still evaluating the group, trying to figure out who these people were.<\/p>\n I just knew that I had made a good impression, but nothing more. In the subsequent days, I made an effort to talk to people one-on-one. And there, connections were made.<\/p>\n But it was the moment at the conference closing party. Where I was invited to stand at a table, chatting with everyone. When suddenly a conversation about being conservative and liberal popped up. I thought carefully and crafted my conversation. But most of all, I was being me, communicating my thoughts. Insisting on my place as a woman of color. I knew that because the group liked me, they would always side with me. I thought that they were fascinating too.<\/p>\n We went to the rooftop of a boutique artsy hotel. On the way, we said goodbye to some. Then I said goodbye to another.<\/p>\n But then that was what it was. An instant connection all because I took a risk. I felt alive in the resulting moment, because I rarely if ever connect with people that instantly. Especially people who were so very unlike me. And then I did it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail. In 2016, it was the moment that I felt in the flow in telling the story of Ice Cream Travel Guide. In 2015, … Continue reading