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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I’m not only terrible at real athletics, I’m also terrible at athletic themed video games, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a lesson I learned after my first visit to the windy city.
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Friday Forum
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What I Learned Yesterday:
Ready for another Chicago story? I have a lot of Chicago stories because I’ve traveled there more than any other city. I love Chicago, but it hasn’t always been that way.
The first time I traveled to Chicago I went there for a work related conference. I was there for 4 days. The conference was about internet technology and lasted all day each day I was there. I was the only person from my company to attend the first year it was in Chicago but there were 4 or 5 people that were attending the conference that worked for a sister company of the one I worked for. I had met one or two of them before, but didn’t really know them that well.
The first night there was a travel night so we all just grabbed some food and crashed at the hotel. On the second night we all had a dinner schedule with one of our mutual vendors. The dinner lasted quite a while so once it was over, we went back to the hotel and called it a day. The next night I asked a couple of the people that I knew if they were doing anything outside of the hotel but they were not. I decided to stay in as well. The final night I once again asked the people I knew were doing anything, and they were not. I again stayed in as well.
I found out later that one of the guys I didn’t know also wanted to go out and check out the city a little bit. He asked his co-workers if they wanted to go with him but they declined. So instead of staying at the hotel with them, he ventured out on his own. Since he didn’t know me, he didn’t ask me. I got home from my trip from Chicago and felt a bit robbed. I mean, had I really just been to Chicago? All I really saw was the airport, a couple of taxis, the McCormick center, a couple of restaurants, and my hotel room. Every city has those things.
The conference was great and I learned a lot of things to take back to my employer, but it really bugged me that I had technically been to Chicago but still felt like I’d never been there. I decided that next time I would be like the guy from the other company. If no one else wanted to go see the city, that was their deal. I was going to use my time more wisely with or without them.
The next year I attended the conference again and again it was in Chicago. However, this time I not only attended the conference with a few folks from the other company, one other person from my company also attended. I wasn’t sure if he’d be interested in seeing the city, but I didn’t care. With or without him, I was going to check out some of the stuff that Chicago has to offer.
Fortunately, he was up for getting out of the hotel. We checked out some of the touristy stuff like the Navy Pier, and we visited several of the retail shops up and down Michigan Avenue. One night he decided to stay in, and I went out anyway. It was still light outside so I walked across the street and checked out Grant Park. I saw Buckingham Fountain, the Bean, and really enjoyed the variety of gardens. I went by the Apple store and sat in on a class about Adobe After Effects and just enjoyed a leisurely time around town. My final night there was really fantastic. I had arranged a meetup with Golden Spiral Media listeners and we had some fantastic pizza.
The next year the conference was once again in Chicago. Again, I decided that I would go check out more of the city. This time there were 4 or 5 people from my company that attended with me. One of my co-workers, a guy named Stephen, was a really cool guy and liked all the geeky stuff that I did, so we had already figured out some of the stuff we’d see before we arrived.
We also had a GSM meetup one night and Stephen attended it with me. Another night we just walked around and found a place to watch the Thunder game. Our busiest night had us taking the train up to Wrigley Field. The Cubs weren’t in town but we still got to see the outside of the stadium. We then walked down to The Weiner’s Circle and had some Chicago style hot dogs. We then took the train to a few other places around town and visited the Willis Tower and Union Station. We had a great time. One night we even stumbled across a luxury car dealer filled with Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s, and other exotic cars including a Bugatti Veyron.
I can tell you that each trip to Chicago was a valuable trip for the company that sent me, but my experience and enjoyment for each trip was not equal. As I’m sure you can guess, I enjoyed each one more that the one before it.
Here’s what I learned.
After my first trip to Chicago, I did NOT want to make another trip anywhere and come home feeling like I’d never been there. It was great that my next visits included people that also wanted to check out the city, but I really would have done those things by myself if I had to.
As I thought about this experience recently, I saw a valuable life lesson there that I hadn’t noticed before. That is, I don’t want to get to the end of my life and feel like I never lived it or missed opportunities to experience some of the wonders that it offers.
What are the wonders that this life offers? I think that looks different for each of us. For some of you that means climbing up mountains and jumping out of airplanes. For others of you it means getting married, having kids, and pouring yourself into those people. For others of you it may may mean quitting your job and following your passion and for some it may mean selling your possessions and moving to a foreign country.
Too many times we look around us and find out what other people are doing so that we can do those things too. That may be fine in some situations, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because everyone else is doing it, that it must be the best choice to make or it will be the choice that will bring you the best that life has to offer. We only get one shot at this. Make the most of it.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes.
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