That's how I feel on 09/21/17, thinking about Cyber Access for the Technically Timid (CATT). Heavy on the twinge of fear.
Little did I know that in building out what I did with Mom into something others could use, that I was opening up something that takes my breath away with how its taken on a life of its own. I didn't give much thought to the details implications ramifications of developing an easily replicated template that people with writing & personal connection skills can help oldsters elders ancients access the internet without touching the keyboard.
"Spinning socializing into social networking" was a fun catch-phrase, nothing more. Until I talked to Tom Kamber, who said to reconnect when I have something substantial to share.
Something substantial to share. With those few words, the image I had of CATT was wiped clean & one of ITS creating took over. It didn't push the other aside - it vaporized it.
In case I had any doubts about what happened, tonight I learned about Pete Mangan, the social entrepreneur who started The Freebird Club to provide mature adults with a new way to travel. Pete's business plan is as much about reducing loneliness & isolation as it is about creating income. Through the homestay experience offered by The Freebird Club, with its "peer-to-peer" membership, mature adults can travel solo & still know there will be someone to whom they can recount the day's adventures or join them in outings - no need to be alone, even if you're traveling that way. And homeowners & apartment dwellers can turn their biggest asset into an income stream.
Pete Mangan found a way to put PLAY back in everyone's travel plans. Because that's what having a pint at the "local" WITH a local is. It describes going to the community event that your host knows that's missed by even the savviest tour guide. It's having an evening sip & nibble, talking about this & that. When he talks about combating loneliness & isolation by providing opportunities for connection, he's talking about creating opportunities for play of the very best sort, for both traveler & host.
Tom & Pete showed up in my life over two consecutive Thursdays to deliver the Universe's message that CATT isn't a little thing. That it is beyond consequential. It will be life-shifting for those who use it, whether as seeker or transcribing guide. It has taken on a life of its own & there WILL be consequences if I do not mid-wife it into reality. It DEMANDS it be DONE - and done well.
I've said this before & am saying it again with even greater force & WAY deeper belief - to get done the work that I was put in this life to do means become the truest version of myself, the ME that needs to be excavated dredged REVEALED in order to do the work before me that is not accepting any excuses for being diminished even slightly. Again - there WILL be consequences if I don't go flat out on this.
My challenge, the reason for my twinge of fear, is that I haven't a clue what that looks or feels like. And the Universe frankly doesn't care. It knows what needs to be done, knows the best person to do it, is not going to back down.
I look at Tom Kamber's background & can see how he could pull together something as splendid as OATS & Senior Planet. I look at Pete Mangan's background & can see how he created The Freebird Club. I look at mine & think, "What was the Universe thinking!?"
I feel like Moses asking GOD, "Why did you pick ME? I have no special gifts to make the epic task you lay upon me a success." And the Universe is just as unbending with me as God was with Moses.
But Moses said to the Lord, By my life milord
I am not a talker
Nor have I ever been,
Not even since you spoke to your servant.
Rather I have a ponderous mouth
And ponderous language personally.
But the Lord said to him, Who gave a man a mouth
Or who made him mute or deaf or sighted or blind
If not Myself, the Lord?
And now go and I Myself will be your mouth
And direct you in what you shall say.
Exodus 1
My blessing is knowing that I've always, even in my most fretful, unbelieving hour, believed in my heart Joshua's words:
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
I've held Joshua's words in my heart & do accept the Universe's call to ME to make so what beckons to be done. And I have no doubt that I will not only see the promised land of an actualized CATT, it will be my joy to enter that land & see the differences my little idea can make when rolled out in a big way.
How? I have no idea.
Do I feel shock, amazement, a heavy twinge of fear? Yes.
Will I? When the Universe - or God - taps you on the shoulder, the only response is YES ~ followed by THANKS.
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