Don't worry, dear friends, I don't mean a romantic sort of love. If that was the case I'd be genuinely worried as that sort of love developing for virtual strangers indicates a problem, I think. No, what I mean is that some part of me falls in love with them as people - I fall in love with their dreams, their aspirations, their goals, their ideas, their vision, and their passion.
I don't think I've ever felt quite like this about people I've just met. Of course I love my husband deeply, and my daughter. I love my sisters, and I loved my parents. I have friends I adore. The love I have for those people is deep and knows no bounds, dear friends, and that has always been true. There is something about the people I interview, though, that makes me want to crawl inside their head and see what makes them tick. I want to know about their pasts, and how they came to be at the point they are now at in their lives. I want to share their thoughts. I want to see their passion and vision as they do, to make it a part of me, too. I have no idea why - I just do.
I've always liked talking to people, but now that I have begun to speak to them as "interview subjects" it seems they have taken on a new level of interest for me. I am fascinated by how differently they all think, and yet how very similar they are in so many respects. I see that people who have true vision and passion share some very common traits, and that those traits are ones I would like to foster in myself (although I am not sure I have that vision quite yet - I think the passion is there, though).
I find myself feeling close to them, seeing them not just as a "person" but as people with thoughts and dreams and worries and all those things that make us who we are. I find myself wanting to get to know them better, and I am delighted when they seem to want to share more of themselves with me, too. I know it's a risk for them to open their thoughts and dreams to someone else, and I am so honoured when they choose to do so with me. I cherish the degree of faith they have in me, and it makes me feel a bit protective of them, too.
When I began to interview people I must admit I did so with great trepidation - I am actually a shy sort, not terribly self-confident with people I don't know. I worry about looking foolish. As time has gone on, though, I've been amazed at how genuinely kind people are, and how willing they are to share pieces of themselves with me. It makes me wonder if perhaps this has been true all along, and I just didn't realize how much we as humans want to share with others that which makes our heart sing (or keeps us awake at night). I've opened my mind, and my heart, to an incredible array of new people. I'm learning something wonderful about all of them, dear friends, but it's also taught me so much about myself. It's taught me that if we just stop and listen - truly listen! - to another person we can often find things in them that we either have in ourselves or want to have in ourselves, too. It has taught me that the risk in opening your mind and heart to another person is so very worthwhile. It has taught me that it's okay, so very okay, to fall in love, just the tiniest bit, with all the other humans who share our experience on this planet.
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