Ben Orlando

This is important.

Like it's not.

And like, what matters is that I'm taking care of myself, that I am connecting with people.

And like I'm finding joy and really slowing down.

And for most of my life, that wasn't really possible because I wasn't aware of what was important.

And so that's my answer to your question.

Yeah, I grew up kind of in the woods.

I grew up at the end of the lane, so there was forest all around and cornfields.

And so that was my childhood.

And I've lived in the city for a long time, but I have communed with nature a lot.

And just an aside, what you're describing, your wife, sounds like my wife, and this nature helps bring out the childlike.

parts of us like it's just like seeing something new and appreciating it which I feel like evaporates from the world and people just they just walk on by everything you know and like they're on the one track mind but it's like oh wow look at that flower wow that's amazing it's like a like a five-year-old seeing something for the first time so for me I I did Peace Corps

Uh, 2001.

And so that was in El Salvador and I did, I spent a lot of time in the woods, um, a lot of time picking mangoes, like in some ways it was pretty idyllic, um, and just traipsing around and connecting that way.

Um, I think, you know, to your point, has it always been that way?

I think it's coming out more and.

We're in Arlington, Virginia.

We live 20 floors up and

really disconnected, you know, we're, we're not grounded.

And so that's, that's coming up more and more like how long do we want this to be our, our life, our reality.