The Indispensables: The Sherpa (01/17/21)

We all need a brain to pick, an ear to bend, a nudge, a poke, a push, or even a loving shove from someone we genuinely trust.  We all need close confidants with whom we can share important matters, our deepest longings, our personal struggles.  We all need someone who’s been there, or someone who’s going there with us, or someone who’s willing to go to the ends of the earth on our behalf. 

We might call such people “The Indispensables”—the ones we simply can’t live without.

Humans are not designed to go it alone.  We never were.  We never will be.  But that doesn’t stop most of us from trying.  Over the last forty years, a growing percentage of U.S. Americans report having shrinking networks and fewer relationships.  Today, the average U.S. American has only one close confidant, down from 2.94 in the mid-1980’s.  It’s no coincidence that, over this same period, we’ve become the loneliest generation in American history.

As we begin a new year, you’re invited on a quest to name and claim the handful of people whom you can’t live without: to commit to making time for them in your life; to invest your energies in cultivating relationships with them; to seek out their wisdom; to learn from them; to confide in them; to invite them into your story and alongside you on your journey. 

On this quest, you’re also invited to consider those in your life who just might see in you the kind of person that they can’t live without.  They might not know it yet.  They might never say it.  But it’s possible that they’re waiting for you to make time for them in your life; to invest your energies in cultivating a relationship with them; to share your wisdom, your story, or simply your hand on the journey of life. 

The truth is that humans need more than one close confidant.  We need a dream team of people who each bring different gifts, perspectives, experiences and commitments to offer.  In this series, we’ll look at the six types of people who can make all the difference both in our personal lives and in our professional lives. 

Who are the indispensables in your life?  For whom might you be one?