Four wonderful, simple things happened today: my friend A finished her first 5k, another friend C finished yet another half-marathon, I woke to oceans sounds, and thousands of people were using Twitter to raise money and awareness of malaria. Each, in their own way, were inspiring and are helping motivate me to try and make a difference in my own life and in the world.
Several years ago, I helped build Nothing But Nets, a grassroots campaign to help send insecticide-treated bed nets to Africa where a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria. I'm incredibly proud of the campaign, the simplicity of the message, the tangible good it does yet by the time I left the UN Foundation last year, I was ready to let the campaign (among other things) go. So I left the team and the anti-malaria efforts behind, or so I thought. Turns out, no matter how burnt out you are, it is hard to run away from a personal desire to make change in the world. So today - World Malaria Day (or at least it is a for a few more hours on the West Coast) - I "rejoined" the effort to end malaria deaths by 2015 by following the UN Social Media Envoys and being of the thousands of Tweet-ers to #endmalaria.
My friends A and C also inspired me today to do something that was challenging or scared me. C is a real runner. She's run at least half of the world's marathons and her times are no joke. Today she ran a half-marathon in New York. A easy race for her, I'm sure but special because she arranged to do it with friends who aren't "real" runners and her enthusiasm for their success was encouraging and filled me with joy. The same thing happened when I got an email back from A after she finished her first 5k. As a beginner, she had conquered not only her fear but her lifestyle to accomplish this feat. Like me, she works way too much and so to run her first race she had to change her life in many ways. It wasn't easy, but she did it. I look to both of them to keep me honest and charged up about working out and getting back into shape.
The fourth was the simple sound of the ocean. I'm in Southern California with a client for the next week. Getting in late last night, it was hard not to be cranky. The flights were awful (even with my automatic upgrade) and bumpy. The cab ride long. The receptionist couldn't find my room. Room service was astronomical (and I didn't want to wait). So despite my awesome room, a complimentary glass of champagne and the down comforter, I went to bed cranky. I woke up to sunrise over the ocean, the sounds of people running by and the wind coming in off the sea. My, what a difference a few hours makes.
My crankiness was replaced by peace. I was reminded of how lucky I was to be in that place at that moment. Touched by the sunrise and a sense of purpose, I got up and started my day.
A day filled with thoughts about Africa and friends crossing the finish line. Not a bad thing, at all.
