You make plans and you do your very best to stay positive but the universe decides to teach you a lesson and everything goes South. What do you do? How do you react?

Warning, this is not a typical blog post.

Online Life & Dreams

When the airline company send me a cancellation email for my flight on Friday, I was so frustrated that I needed to share my story with my Instagram friends. After all, now we have only this option, right? Social media have become our bridge to the world outside. We talk online, live online, share feelings online, do business online and even dream online.

This is the post I published on Instagram around midday, today:

“I’ve got a ticket to ride this Friday but the new travel restrictions are postponing my plans for a while. Again. The new business contracts in Cyprus and Lebanon are now on hold due to the extreme difficulty to travel. All meetings will be online and all presentations, too.
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Some of you (especially my social media friends) may have noticed that I have expressed repeatedly my irritation with this extreme load of online meetings. Like many of digital entrepreneurs, I am trying to save my brain from any extra digital tasks to keep my sanity.

Last month I decided to use less my computer and write less new content, so I have been a lot quieter on my blog than usual. To be honest I have not been feeling inspired at all… I’ve lost two of my best friends to COVID-19 and the sorrow had drained me. Our life has changed … We have changed. We need to take our time and find our balance in this new reality.

It’s needless to say that I haven’t been in the right mindset to share or create anything on my blog, especially given the fact that we have come to a point where we value the time we have in our hands. I prefer to spend more time with the people I love than creating new content. What about you?“

The IG post received no attention, only a few likes and a couple of private messages. Due to my negative mood, I skipped my emails till late in the evening. When I opened my email box there was a surprise waiting for me. 2671 emails were there… answering my question: What about you?

2671 People shared their thoughts

2671 responses were there. 2671 people reached out. 2671 strangers from all over the world had something to share with me. We connected. We shared a digital moment that actually touched our real feelings and lives. That’s the magic of genuine communication between people. I am still reading these emails and some have made me cry.

We are still humans seeking to connect and bond with others.

Thank you for your heartfelt support.

Have the courage to stay human

What I’ve learned from this incident? It takes a lot of courage to stay humble and human. But it only takes a second to connect when you are honest.