Welcome to The GOOD 30-Day Challenge (#30DaysofGOOD). Each month, we challenge our community members to do something that will improve the world around us—and our own lives. The challenge for September? To connect with other people. In an effort to help us all rise to the occasion, we’re going to assign one small task every day. Each morning, we will post the challenge on GOOD.is and Twitter, along with a testimonial from someone on the GOOD team who’s already completed it. We invite you to complete all 30 mini-challenges with us! Today, we challenge you to:
Call someone instead of texting, or text someone instead of posting on their Facebook wall.
After calling my umpteenth friend, and leaving yet another rambling voicemail message, I realized this mini-challenge would be tougher than I’d anticipated. No one answers their phone anymore.
Not one to give up, I kept calling—and kept talking to voicemails.
“This is Liz…again.”
It’s not that my friends are avoiding me. They text and send Facebook messages saying, “Did you call me? What’s up?”
One friend replied, “I saw you called. Is everything all right?” It made me wonder how we got to the point where we associate phone calls with bad news.
My perseverance finally paid off when my best friend from college, Leslyn—who I hadn’t spoken to since last spring—called back. She was driving and finally had a free 10 minutes to catch up. It didn’t matter that I was shopping in Trader Joe’s, I answered my phone.
Our brief chat—hearing her tell me what’s going on instead of simply reading about her life and clicking “like”—was refreshing. Digital communication certainly has its place, but from now on I’m going to keep my phone ready for some real conversation.
Ready, set, go! Good luck completing today’s challenge. Share your experience on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook by using the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD, or let us know how it went in the comments section below.
Tomorrow’s challenge: Lend someone a book.
