Curate & Cultivate

 

When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards. My favorites were Topps or Bowman and I absolutely loved opening a new pack to see what cards I would find along with the stale gum that usually came along with it. I became fascinated with this hobby because my dad had gifted me some of his baseball cards from the 1940's and 1950's and I loved sifting through them to see the players I could recognize. I remember buying card protector sheets and putting the players in alphabetical order by team and the year of the card. It became an obsession of mine to try to find all the players for each team for each year based on their opening day lineups. I wasn't really interested in how much the cards were worth, but rather, getting enough cards to see if I could get a complete set. I spent hours digging through couch cushions to come up with 50 cents to buy a pack so I could continue my pursuit, but I never actually ended up realizing the goal. At some point, I just gave up and moved on to the next interest I had discovered and the baseball cards ended up in a memory box in my parent's basement. 

I've often thought about my baseball card collecting days and the fun I had with the process. It is a childhood memory that will stick with me forever and was a way that I was able to connect with my father. There are a number of other stories that I could share from my childhood days that have stuck with me, but I share this one because it is one that I curated to demonstrate a point. We all have stories to share and part of the #OwnYourEpic process is to curate and cultivate them to own our voices and connect with others. You see, within our stories, we can discover shared experiences with others that can grow relationships and trust. Like my baseball card collection, we may not see any inherent value in our stories at that specific moment in time, but we need to understand that the value is found in the connection we make with it.

Lessons are learned in both triumph and defeat. Not all of our stories need to have positive endings. We can, however, find the happy ending by learning and growing from the experiences we encounter. That is why it is so important to curate the stories we have that cultivate them so we can own our voice and share with others. In the process, we encourage others to do the same and people have an opportunity to be seen and heard in a way they might not have had before. It is a risky endeavor because it requires vulnerability, but it is totally worth it so they don't end up being packed away in your parent's basement never to be heard of again.

#OwnYourEpic #Connect