Fair warning: After you listen to this episode, you might develop a compelling aspiration to downsize everything into a 30-foot motor home and hit the road. Author and recovering attorney Michelle Fishburne did that in 2020 and spent much of those 12,000 miles talking to hundreds of people across the country about how they endured the COVID lockdown.
The result is Who We Are Now: Stories of What Americans Lost & Found during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a unique look at the under-reported empathy we felt for each other as our lives took so many unexpected turns.
A third-generation Happy Nomad who had spent 10 months “roadschooling” her young children, Michelle went mobile after COVID took her highfalutin political job in Washington, DC. Since then, she’s learned the power of betting on yourself and catching your luck when it comes along. And one of the best ways to prove that personal interactions aren’t nearly as fraught as they’re portrayed is to go interact with those persons yourself.
We also talk about how building a flexible schedule makes you available when your family needs you, how our 50s offer great opportunities to take outlandish risks, and why Doug is an excellent name for an ex-husband.
Other links:
Humans of New York has been telling out stories since 2010
How Landing works like a longer-term Airbnb
The Otter app records and transcribes your audio
Visit beautiful Pine Bluffs, Wyoming
On the road with John Steinbeck, Charles Kuralt, and Steve Hartman
The View From My Window Facebook group
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