So why 19?
It’s personal
In 2016, a year that was extraordinarily difficult for me, I was forced to examine my relationship with the world. Emotionally I was a wreck, just doing my best to hold everything together. I’ve always been an optimist, but during this time, I was really being put to the test. I knew in order to move forward, I would need to seriously put everything into perspective. I needed clarity to avoid falling down an emotional rabbit hole that would be difficult to climb out of. I thought a good place to start would be the concept of love. It was a word I heard and used myself all my life, but I wanted to really understand it. I struggled with how one word, which is probably one of the most powerful words in all languages, could be used in so many different contexts. It was confusing.
This led me to thinking about words in general. My first breakthrough was when I heard someone say “words are tools, and tools are used to get things done.” The fog started to clear. I started to look closer into words, how they were being used, and most importantly, how I was using them. I went back to love, and thought about how the word love was being used. More than anything I thought about its power. I thought about how great it felt when my children told me they loved me, or a client told me they loved my work. I thought about how I could think of no other word to express how I felt about the Miles Davis classic, Kind of Blue. As a part time worker at Trader Joes, I would hear over and over again from customers how much they loved the store, or at lease an item in the store.
My second, and perhaps most significant breakthrough occurred when I attempted to give love, this very powerful word, a definition. If words are tools, and people are using love everyday to reference everything from grandparents to applesauce, it needed a definition that fit every context. This led me to the one word that this blog, and indeed the number 19 are connected to: value. This word fit perfectly. To say that you love someone or something, is the same as saying you value them or it. The word value is not as powerful as love, but it provided clarity and meaning, the one thing I was desperately looking for. This new insight opened my mind to a new level of understanding about the people and world around me. Suddenly, I was no longer confused. I now understood why love was such a powerful word and why people used it as often as they did. I knew that it was simply a synonym for something all humans are wired to recognize: value. This realization changed me forever.
Which brings me to the number 19. In my journey to understand love, I discovered value, a word I believe connects us all. We all value someone and something. We are all engaged in relationships with, and are connected to people and things we value. My mother, youngest daughter, oldest son, and oldest daughter were all born on the 19th of December, November, October, and September, respectively. So as you can see, the number 19 is connected to some of the people I value the most. And yes, it’s personal, but that’s the point. I believe that for each individual, value is determined by personal experiences and relationships.
The 19 brands that I have selected to write about on this blog are all successful because they have what I call great “value relationships” with people. These relationships are personal. It goes beyond the exchange of money for goods. It’s about something deeper, something human. It’s about connection. And I think I know how they do it, so I plan on sharing. Stay tuned!
