[vlog transcript]

I’m Debbie. In Hebrew that means bee, which is what my mother called me as a child, and I guess that’s what I’ve grown into as a lady. Busy, a little bossy, and always flying despite not having the odds of aerodynamics on my side.

Pollination is kind of my thing, too. I’m all about sharing life’s honey with all the different people and places I end up in the world. Right now, this little Bee’s gathering and spreading pollen in another foreign flower.

Sometimes, you find yourself on someone else’s search for pollen, flying on paths that drain the honey from your wings. Sometimes, you need to have the confidence to aim for a different flower. Sometimes, that means changing direction and heading for a completely different garden, disorienting yourself with the familiar scents and colors, lifting off and flying on your own path.

Strangely, learning to fly away from the hive can be a bit like walking in sand — a little unstable at first, but once you get comfortable with the fluidity through your toes, you unlock the pollen and its powers.

Unfortunately, wings don’t just start flapping either. It takes a few hundred failed take-offs, glides and landings. A honeycomb of planning and experimentation.

We’re here to learn how to let our creative minds fly. Where in the world will we go? Where beyond the world will we go? We don’t know. It’s a journey where we get to trust our intuition and let it guide our learning paths. The only failure is not experiencing something new and since we can’t relive the same day twice, failure won’t exist. We’re here to disorient ourselves — it’s the only way forward.

By learning to fly alongside each other as we pollinate different industries, we will become creators on the move and collaborators with diverse lures. We will disorient opinions and, in doing so, land on improvement. We’ll spread the pollen widely, leaving behind what’s needed to thrive.

Each flight is ours to craft, to curate and to conquer. Each oscillation of wings, a nod to the collective pursuit of knowledge. Each buzz, a reminder of the people around us who’ll lend a shoulder to cry on, who’ll fill in our blanks, have our backs and who’ll throw grapes when we need them too.

The crossing of paths will take us on a journey. A journey to gather our potential and have the confidence to thrive. Is it time to get up and take off? It’s up to you. But I’m doing it now, so perhaps you’ll join me.

View Debbie's first Ei vlog post here:

Experience Institute - (DIS) ORIENTATION from Deborah Paterson on Vimeo.