I especially love MY people. But, I love any people willing to engage in authentic relationships. What I've known for a long time and what I'm continually reminded of — thanks to the stellar humans with whom I'm lucky to surround myself — is that raw human connection is the most fulfilling experience life has to offer.

In the past 24 hours I got to connect with two people I consider some of my most trusted confidantes, life advisors, constructive critics, and chosen family members. Meetings like these are the ones I leave feeling the most alive. In a similar get-together with one of these fellas several months back, we discussed our personal insecurities about career and life paths. We ended this conversation by defining what success looks and feels like to us, particularly as that definition differs from the definition our parents, our peers, and society as a whole has for success. In this conversation, I defined success as the fact that I have the opportunities to meaningfully connect in this very manner with people who better me and who I get to help better themselves.

The stark contrast in setting for each of these two most recent rendezvous highlights the common thread of fulfillment and satisfaction that is shared between two otherwise different interactions: that is, the raw human connection at the core of each occasion. It doesn't matter what I'm doing…what matters is who I'm with.

Last night, I was fortunate enough to have one of my oldest friends accompany me to an expensive dinner, one of the likes that I only indulge in every so often due to the associated financial constraints. We sat, tucked away in a dimly-lit corner of the restaurant for three hours, covering a wide range of topics: from personal health goals, to impending parenthood, to inspiring political figures, personal religious beliefs, and comparing our experiences with familial end-of-life care. Throw in a bottle of a bold Bordeaux-blend, a pair of shared steaks, and a sweet treat, and I truly don't know how one could ask for a more pleasant evening.

This morning, I got to enjoy a coffee-and-walk along Portage Bay and through the University of Washington's campus with a different dear companion under bright, grey skies and a moderate temperature for Seattle in February. This meeting had been on the books for weeks and my soul was just lucky enough to have last night's dinner scheduled last minute so as to be filled with so much combined joy from these back-to-back meals. As we walked we shared our respective updates since the new year's beginning. He shared about recent opportunities he's had to start shaping what he hopes to be a future entrepreneurial career in his field of expertise and guided me in a discussion about how relating my core passions from childhood to my future professional goals is the true recipe for success. I shared with him my recent projects in the civic realm and provided him some insight on how I wrestle with the societally-imposed anxieties we both encounter regarding productivity, goals, and comparing ourselves to others.

In general, I think I am an over-sharer, at least in comparison to your average Joe. This sometimes leads to self-conscious thoughts about dominating the conversation or making things about myself while not leaving an equal amount of time for others to share with me about themselves. However, I've found that when I show up to conversations as an open book, not shying away from my vulnerabilities, it signals the other person to act similarly. When two people can engage with each others' vulnerabilities, that is where real progress happens. That is the space where we can most effectively better ourselves and better those around us in our many intersecting circles of community. This raw human connection, this engagement and constructive discourse between people who care about each other, that's what it's all about, baby. That is success.