Turning 30: Building Your Team

Turning 30: Building Your Team

• 7.25.2013

I think one of the best things about getting older is that you know more about what you need and where to get it from. I like to refer to this as "building a team".

I've been building my team for 30 years now but not really realized it until quite recently. I know now what to try to do myself versus what to go to my team for. For example, I've recently added "James" to my team. James works at this clinical massage place in Back Bay and we've been on 3 "dates" in one week. He's super patient and quite literally put my body back in place after my back was terrible last week. When you are picking team members, you pick people that care about you. I can tell James cares about what he does ... in part because he told me my body was stubborn and spent extra time trying to "balance my hips". I insanely walked extra carefully home because I didn't want to ruin all his hard work.
There are many types of team members... and I'll probably write this post again because I feel so strongly about it. But, it came to me today because I really needed some of my team today.

Everyone has those moments where they think they did something but they aren't quite sure. Well for me, it was turning off my curling iron. I just wasn't quite sure. So I hoped in a cab mid-morning to just gain that peace of mind. Given that the meter was running, I was also going to run ... and I did that ... directly into a cement pole. And I mean directly. And I mean running.

I ended up as a pile of a person on Salem Street in the North End, not quite sure what happened, and gathering a fair bit of attention from a combo of construction workers and tourists. The shock of the situation cause me to jump right back up and keep running while people asked me if I was sure I was okay.

The end result was a knee that looked worse than it really was ... and the love marks of a cement pole on my face, neck, and chest. Cute right? Obviously, I'm going to live to tell the tale and I'm going to be just fine.

I had plans to eat oysters and cocktails with baby sister at Marliave. But after leaving work... in the rain... fighting my umbrella with the wind ... all I wanted was to just see some of my team. I felt like I could cry at any moment. All I wanted was to see my sister and perhaps my best friend Meghan (who lives in DC). Oddly enough, I had even put on the belt Meghan gave me as a present for our friendship anniversary when I got dressed this morning.

Well.

Happy Birthday to me.... because Meghan was in the bar waiting for me. It was the best surprise ever.

(Thanks Megs and Bu.)