Grateful For Connections Near And Far
Today I’m grateful for having the opportunity to connect with global friends virtually. Despite the time zone differences, my friend in Tokyo and another in San Jose were able to finally jump into a call to catch up and share recent life events. With baby boy’s birth and general life conflicts, I’ve missed connecting with them for the past few months. Today I joined the call with my newborn son, and it was the highlight of my day to introduce my good friends to my new love. It was a symbol of the constant change that we experience and a nostalgic reminder of how much we’d gone through together throughout the years. This is despite me never even having met one of them in person(!) We’ve shared career and personal highs and lows with this small group. It’s moments like this that I appreciate technology.
Maintaining friendships across continents is hard at the best of times, but meeting people who lives oceans away who meet your energy and invest in knowing you is special. I’m grateful that I was able to forge some deep connections during my time at Google. It’s true, with WhatsApp and GoogleMeet we can stay connected at a fingertip. But what’s magical is that through all these years, we have put the effort in to ensure our connections are intentional and genuine. I’m reminded of just how small the world can feel when we choose to stay connected.
Learning Through Friendship
One of the greatest gifts of having friends from different corners of the world is the opportunity to learn. They’ve introduced me to ideas I never would have been exposed to, books I wouldn’t have found, and ways of thinking that have challenged my own assumptions. I met this group through a mindfulness community at my workplace, and that’s been a great foundation on which to build a friendship between people on different walks of life and in different cultures.
Through them, I’ve gained a richer understanding of the world—not just as a collection of different challenges and terrains.
A Heart Full of Gratitude
When I think about this group of friends that zoom in and out of each others orbits, I’m so grateful. When I feel stuck in my local environment at home, they remind me how vast the world is, and how many opportunities are waiting to be uncovered. They give me perspective. They’ve shown me that friendship isn’t about proximity; it’s about showing up, staying curious, and cherishing the connection, no matter how far apart we may be.
