The California Drought. Immanent Runaway Climate Change. Record economic disparity. It’s getting real in this Whole Foods Parking lot called earth. How can we learn to share our home planet with 7 billion wildly diverse people? We think learning to be good global citizens starts with one thing: doing the dishes.
“The Next Big Thing” Grows a 5 o’clock Shadow
People have been grumbling lately that sharing economy companies like Uber, Taskrabbit and AirBnB may be replicating the same ol’ service class we’ve always known. We LOVE using sharing economy tools here at OpenDoor, but many times they are just a more convenient way of consuming with a little human interaction sprinkled as a garnish. Perhaps people are feeling disappointed, not because there’s anything wrong with sharing apps, but because they are looking for something that truly elevates. We’re yearning for a life with more passionate conversations, more enriching friendships, more authenticity, more hands-on creativity. And not just as a one-off consumer experience. As a life.
From Transaction to Transformation
Apps like AirBnB and Getaround are renowned among the technorati as having “solved the trust equation,” enabling strangers to have a transactional relationship via ratings & social media validation. That’s cute, but its not enough. Human creativity and ingenuity is our biggest asset as a species. We need to band together and learn how to lift each other up to amplify each other’s spark.
Training Wheels for a Big Planet
It turns out living in community isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. Dishes get left out, house meetings get passive aggressive, and someone keeps clogging the damn toilet. Guess what. That’s life. And its our best teacher. Learning to live well in a group trains our citizenship muscles. It teaches us how to manage collective resources without being selfish, it teaches us how to communicate honestly. It opens us up to understanding people who are different. If we’re gonna have any chance at living on a planet with 7 billion, we damn sure better be able to live with seven.
Doing What Matters
I’m so blown away by all the creativity, playfulness and heart of the people choosing coliving as a lifestyle. From dinner parties with all-purple produce to monthly inspiration sessions where people share their biggest dreams, residents use their homes as a canvas for creating life on their terms. What would you create if you lived with your favorite people in the world?
