They say, “If you can’t beat them, join them!”
I was not a fan of this virtual world that was growing around me. When I first moved from New York City to California eons ago, my happiest moments were when I received letters from different people in New York. As the World Wide Web (WWW) began to surface, I began learning how to write emails to my family, instead of waiting for letters that slowly stopped coming. Surfing the web took time to get used to. At my staff meetings, they stopped giving out hand-outs. It’s all sent by email and before you know it everything became “virtual.”
I don’t remember who introduced me to Facebook. But one day, I joined the Facebook and discovered a hidden community, people I already knew but didn’t know they had a “virtual” world. I still remember walking into the church the next Sunday and seeing some faces who also looked at me with a smile and said, “Welcome to the Facebook!” I felt like I joined a secret club. In my Facebook world, I did not ask people to become my friend. When someone asked me to be their friend, I ignored these requests. I have to be good friends with them in real life before I accepted their request.
Then, Covid-19 happened. Then, the virtual world exploded. The world became a virtual world where students did distance-learning and teachers taught distance-teaching. Groups of all kinds began meeting through Zoom. As a retired person trying to figure out how to live the rest of my life, suddenly I saw an opportunity right before my eyes. It was an opportunity that did not require for me to get out of the comfort of my house, with no driving, no supervisor evaluating me, and almost everything under my own control (I sure hope). I will always remember June 2020. In this month, I came out of my comfort zone and produced my own Youtube Channel (Dr. Grace). Then June 30th, 2020, I decided to take another step out of my comfort zone. I asked people that I don’t know well and even people I do not know to become my friends. For this Ms. Shy (me), this was a big step. It required courage (believe it or not). I guess I can say I “broke out.” It’s only a few weeks now, but since then, I have gained 700+ new friends. I’ve entered the virtual community of Facebook. Now I read and see the stories of people I have never known from other parts of the country, and the world. It’s a new day for me.