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A few weeks ago I was browsing on Facebook when I came across this post:

The language of this post triggered me because it felt completely against everything I had been understanding about COVID-19. It felt accusatory, angry and pompous. What's more is that the post was written by someone who was really important to me for a time: my high school bible study leader from 20 years ago. Alison was a big part of my life for most of high school. We naturally lost touch after high school and while I don't identify as a Christian anymore I only had fond memories of her. I realized my emotions were partly because I couldn't reconcile the person I remembered her to be with the person that wrote this post. I considered unfriending her on Facebook and even posting the screenshot to share with others. After some thought I realized that my feelings toward her were unfair especially if I wasn't even attempting to have a conversation and understand. I saw an opportunity to learn and to use play as a tool to build a bridge between us. After much deliberating, conversations with numerous people, research, reading and learning I decided to reach out to her to see if she would agree to a conversation for the podcast...and if she would be willing to participate in some play to start us off on the right foot. In this conversation

I had three objectives/intentions with the conversation

• Reminisce about memories from the time she was my bible study leader
• Catch up about what our lives look like today
• Understand what the other person values and believes to be true in the context of COVID-19

I framed the conversation in six sections by preparing questions that I sent to her in advance. I also answered each question and once we both had a chance to share we had the opportunity to ask each other deeper questions.

• #1 - Icebreaker Games
• #2 - Reintroductions
• #3 - Bible Study Era
• #4 - Our Lives Today
• #5 - Life in the time of COVID-19
• #6 - Reflections and Grattitude

Mentioned in this episode and resources from today's episode

• • Breaking Through Gridlock - a book I HIGHLY recommend to learn how to have challenging, potentially polarizing conversations, which is something we could all be better at
  • Living Room Conversations
  • John Durso, Bridging Our Divide
  • Conner Moore, The Realness, Conner Wanders Experience and Ok, Babe
  • Gary Hirsch, On Your Feet
  • Jeff Harry, Rediscover Your Play
  • Citizen Way - Alison's husband's band

Where to listen:

• iTunes (I would love you forever if you left a rating and a review!)

• Spotify

• YouTube

   

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