Face Time is Better than Face Book!

We live in interesting times --when social media is an oxymoron.  This hit me hard the other day when I finally had a long overdue breakfast with a dear colleague.  I respect this business coach so much--but hadn't found/made/taken the time to reach out to her. I mean--not for months! Oh, I was busy doing something else: looking for solutions, finding clients, fulfilling client needs, back office stuff, well, you know how it goes....and then add in the usual holiday frenzy.   I wasn't going to let the year go by without seeing her again.  A client meeting postponed the original date...we rescheduled again. 


We had a great conversation over breakfast around family and business and clients and market and organizations and the economy and goals.  No agenda--just getting together.  


As I drove off after breakfast, I realized that I really enjoyed the face time.  


I love catching up with old friends on Facebook, making new connections on linked in and tweaking an article that I know would be useful.


But the sitting down and breaking bread was almost gone from my things I do.  How did that happen?  When did I lose the something that was so important to me?


I think about calculating my age while a child and reading Orwell's 1984 and then doing the same as an adult for the year 2000. Today Christmas items are displayed with Halloween in the stores.  Valentines are already popping up and we aren't even in 2012.  Time is rushed as the "best of" lists  come out with 3 or 4 weeks left in the year.  What if the "best of"  hasn't happened?  Don't the days and weeks at the end of year count as much as the others?  Aren't they 24-7 as well?  


Face time got a bad name for itself when bosses insisted that people spend time in the office just to be there--whether they were accomplishing anything or not.  That was an era ago.  Today, we are virtual, on flextime and technology has helped (?) make us accessible.


Nothing replaces the slowing down and making time for another-- really engaging and listening to another person.  


I got a great gift this year--and it came unexpectedly. Face Time is better than Facebook.   Happy New Year!