Travel Anxiety in Oakland
TRAVEL DATES: DECEMBER 5TH - DECEMBER 17TH
LOCATION: OAKLAND + SAN FRANCISCO
I’ve really never been one to travel and I know that might be strange coming from me: the girl who moved to New York City from the midwest to start her life but other than a few childhood trips to Mexico (visiting relatives), I haven’t travelled much, I think mainly because in the past traveling was mainly done with my family and that was stressful and isolating to say the least. I realized I had travel anxiety when my partner first suggested that we visit Oakland and my immediate reaction was fear. I met his invitation with dread. My thoughts rang alarms of uncertainty; Why would we go? What will we do there? I don’t know anyone there?
I understand that for some adventurous beings the idea of being proposed with travel would be thrilling but my anxious brain thrives on certainty, stability, and comfort. I went on the trip because my partner was confided in me; his purpose and intent. My partner, Cole has been interested in Oakland’s Dynamicland which is (according to their website), a non-profit developing “a new computational medium where people work together with real objects in the real world.” So now we had a mission, go to Oakland and infiltrate Dynamicland, this motive made me excited to go to the bay area. We a have purpose. In this article I’ll let you know:
a) How I coped with my travel anxiety.
b) How we made contact with a company where we knew no one.
In the meantime enjoy this adorable slideshow of us in the bay area.
HOW I DELT WITH THE ANXIETY…
My experience with anxiety told me that the fear I was feeling about the physically act of traveling was the way I was coping with my fears for being intruded… if that makes sense. I’ll be honest with you dear reader, I am afraid of not being in control of my surroundings and additionally, having my identity and anonymity trespassed. This fear is one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable in a place like Manhattan. Here, I am allowed to disappear in the fog of eight million other people, a place where my presence is only known when I decide it so. Being a tourist is for those who are excited by the unknown path that might lie ahead, for someone who deals well with an unstructured lifestyle and those who find no comfort in routine. I am nothing of the sort. If I’m traveling who will be the barista that I always knows my order? Where is the comfort of the familiar route I take everyday? One the few priorities that are able to override fear is purpose. The best advise I can give about travel anxiety is to set an intention even if that intention is simply to relax. Especially if the anxiety is caused by perceived productivity.
HOW WE PeEKED INTO DYNAMICLAND…
We went to Oakland with the understanding that we might never come into contact with anyone from Dynamicland. I think that adding this very realistic expectation helped make this prospect more fun… it was like a game. It was comparable to trying to meet someone at Facebook, could you imagine? What are your options really?
Let’s brainstorm: You could walk right into the lobby and ask for someone you saw worked there on Linkedin, you could…stakeout the closest coffeehouse nearby the location, or you could…email the HR department and beg for a tour of the offices. I’m sure we could come up with countless options… but by far the best way to get involved with someone/thing is a chance encounter. I know that might sound insurmountable but, there is a strategy to increasing your chances.
Think of dating, when you are trying to meet the next love off your life the best thing to do would be to put yourself in situations where they might be…festivals, meetups, parties and networking events. The only way to meet someone is to put yourself in a place or situation where is becomes possible whereas if you make no effort, you’ll see no reward. So we made our way to Oakland and actually stayed at an Airbnb within walking distance from the Dynamicland office, we staked-out the nearby coffeehouse and asked locals if they’d had any involvement with the bay area non-profit… none of this worked
. After an encouraging conversation with a retail owner neighboring Dynamicland, we decided to just ring their bell and tell them we were writing an article about the coding language they were using. This sorta worked. We were able to step inside their office and have a very brief and awkward conversation with some of the people inside. Let’s just say that they weren’t ‘hosting’ ready. The members were actually preparing for a presentation that night to a group of educators so it was understandable that they were not able to show us around. We took what we could get, introduced ourselves and said goodbye.
We went along with the rest of our trip, sightseeing and actually we went to an event that was hosted by Figma. They were hosting a party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Mother of all Demos, done by Douglas Engelbart and much to our surprise a core developer of Dynamicland also attended. Was it luck? I’m not sure…my money is on karmic retribution for our awkward in counter… anyway; we came, we saw, we awkwardly met at a party. After we broke the ice at the party things went smoothly. It just goes to show that you don’t have to be lucky, although it wouldn’t hurt but, you do have to try.
