Book 69 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title - Every Tribe Needs a Shared Mission to Thrive!

Book - Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

Book Description: Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, Tribe explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that-for many veterans as well as civilians-war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. Tribe explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today's divided world.

Reflection:

I really enjoyed this book. As someone who survived a traumatic episode in my own life, the stories that they author told about war veterans returning from the theater of war and experiencing an extreme disconnect from their communities immensely resonated with me based on my own experiences. I often look back on my families time in the NICU fondly these days even though we had a tragic outcome. Some of the closest and deepest relationships I've ever had experienced in my life started on the 4th floor or Riley's Hospital for Children and the NICU at IU Methodist with the doctors and nurses caring for my children. There is something about an urgent and traumatic episode that can unite humans on a level that most of us will never experience unless we are unlucky enough to find ourselves in that situation.

Trauma and Pain brings out the best in all of us and magnifies how amazing our species can be when we band together and unite around a single mission, cause, or purpose. That is what I experienced in the hospital as these nurses, doctors, and surgeons banded together with my wife and I to fight for my daughter's life. I will always remember what they did and that extremely close connection that we now share for the rest of our lives.

I have a decent amount of people in my life that I would consider to be close friends, none of those people will ever understand who I can be at my best, worst, and most pure human self than what those doctors and nurses experienced in the small time that we had together. In the modern age, we are now more connected to the everyone than ever before, and at the same time more disconnected as well.

I think that is because true connection comes from sharing a mission or a purpose together with the people you surround yourself with and the actions you do. That is the real glue of any tribe and will always be. If you bring enough people together that really passionately care about 1 thing, magic will happen as you see all the beauty that comes with human connection when uniting for a single cause.

My mission is living a balanced life and I'm working on building a tribe of people that care about the same thing. If we can unite enough people around this purpose, I know magic will happen. It's just a matter of time.

Question: What's Your Tribe's Mission?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Tribe

YOML Bookstore - Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger