Revisit Your Roots

Today’s ROI Topic is “Revisit Your Roots”

Let me preface this with a clear apology to Mr. Alex Haley for a slight plagiaristic approach with the term “Roots” and admit boldly that I shall make no references to Chicken George in this excerpt. Nor shall I be admitting anything about the need for supplemental hair coloring or Rogaine. This session is about the need to stop and revisit for a moment the things that shape us and who we have become in our lives, and then, perhaps pay homage to some of them.

To frame this more let me admit to my recent acceptance of social networking and the discovery I didn’t expect to make through it. A while back I joined Facebook and was very pleased to discover through a few selected friends that many and I mean MANY of my old and dear friends from my young formative years were already using the system.

This prompted some research whereby I discovered that the fastest grown demographic right now in social networking sites is the 45-55 year old population. Maybe we are all looking to reconnect or seek some sort of past connections and validity to what we are or perhaps where we are now.
For me, as I see it, it was a fluke that I ended up connected on the system to so many good friends whom I allowed time and work to disjoin me from. I cannot speak for others, but suspect that similar contemplation would reveal a combination not too different from my own.

So I planted my seed with the first post on Facebook and waited by my computer… waited… went for coffee but took my Iphone with Facebook app loaded… and I waited some more. Oh how I waited and watched that screen. Hand on the mouse, refreshing the webpage over and over again. Time appeared to be mocking me in my suspense filled moments. After all, I put up a photo, I posted a message, and I gave the darn thing my email address. Look at the work I put in to this effort people! And still I waited… Can you imagine that it took almost twenty minutes after I setup my account for my first friend request to come in!

So, as it goes, one friend became two friend, and so on and so on and so on… Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful (Sorry if you didn’t get that little pun)

What I discovered was that as the friends in this social networking extravaganza exploded it became apparent that these are not new friends at all. These are the people who I grew up with. These are the people who shared critical life shaping times and experiences with me. We lived our formative years in partnership and fun with each other. We had loves and heartache; we had drama and joy together. We watched the drinking age go from 18 to 21 for goodness sake! We saw the original Smokey the Bear on TV and watched that Indian cry over litter next to the highway (if you don’t remember that you are too young to read this)

So I say to all of you, slow down and reflect on those times and the lessons you learned. Remember the people and find them. Seek them out and make it a point to reconnect to them, to as many as you can. Nothing I have ever done has helped me find this level of clarity, peace, and a sense that no matter what the world and the economic times today can put in my path, I will be able to deal with.

I am not discounting my current friends, my career, or family in any way. I am telling all of you from my heart that there is more. There is a refilling of good nature and a firmness you can rely on when you reach back to those roots and recall the foundation you are built upon.

Our lives are like a very old and long book that we read a bit of every now and then. Sometimes it helps to go back to the preface or early chapters and reacquaint one’s self with the primary character again.

Take Care and Reach Out!