Communication is a commonly known word that encompasses our lives in more ways than we imagine until we stop to consider the word.
We communicate through so many various forms as humans have done since the beginning of time. The world revolves on communication and in the times we’re now living in, you can communicate with someone on the other side of the world without blinking an eye or crying over $5 per minute overseas charges from your local telephone company.
We connect with each other not through the U.S. Postal Service (or snail mail) as we once used to with reverence. The written letter seems to be headed the way of the Pony Express and carrier pigeons as relics of the past.
In this age of instant gratification, we Twitter, LinkIn, blog, text message, instant message, and get feeds from our news sources. We will occasionally pick up the telephone to hear a real voice. This is not our grandmother’s world.
Humans communicate through body language—a furrowed brow, a look of consternation, arms crossed or relaxed facial muscles, open body postures and inviting smiles. We use hand gestures and shoulder shrugs to display various emotions. The seeing and hearing impaired among us use special communication devices and languages to communicate. Even those with mental or physical handicaps can now express themselves via creative or instrumental vehicles. Humans need communication as much as they require food and water.
Communication can come with the simplicity of the wink of an eye, or the look contained within the eyes, a brief touch of sympathy or longing from one human to another. Yes, we communicate in so many ways, with our families, customers, bosses, and even right back to that one-day relic, our postal carrier.
Many studies over the years have found that infants who have no social interaction can actually fail to thrive. The elderly, I believe, can suffer from this syndrome as well. When they outlive family or find themselves in a solitary living environment, they cease to try to enjoy life as they are devoid of communication and interaction. Yes, you can be surrounded by people, yet still be so very alone in this crazy world.
The topic of communication is key to our mental health. Each person stands alone, but when a need arises the world can act with one voice of love and support, encouragement and compassion, sympathy and laughter. The average life of a resident self-storage manager is not one filled with parties and jet-setting, large family gatherings or garden parties with children laughing about and playing. It’s more of a 24/7 job since a resident manager never truly leaves work.
Virgo Publishing and the folks at Inside Self-Storage, either through design or sheer luck, happened to provide a vehicle, nay a voice, for the self-storage managers with no neighbor tochat with over the back fence to be able to engage, socialize and interact. It's Self-Storage Talk, an online forum where friendships have been formed, businesses have seen their bottom line profit from ideas exchanged and, most important, some of the less mobile members have found a way to interact socially with others who share a common bond.
A team, or some might call it a family, has bonded and they thrive! Just like the topic of the presentation I’ll be doing at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo next week in Las Vegas. I’ll be focusing not on simply surviving but on forming teams and relationships to help you thrive in the shifting self-storage world.
When empty and devoid of experiences, people cease to thrive. The line from the John Donne poem says it best, “No man is an island.” This line was expanded upon in a song by Joan Baez, and the familiar lyric continues, “No man stands alone. Each man's joy is joy to me. Each man's grief is my own.” We share a bond within our industry and it’s the combined efforts, interaction and all forms of communication that make us stronger.
I look forward to meeting you next week in Las Vegas for the Inside Self-Storage World Expo where, hopefully, we’ll get a chance to communicate with one another. Until then, log on to Self-Storage Talk and let’s get acquainted.