We had the good fortune of connecting with Heather Box and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
The Subject Tonight Is Love

By Hafiz

The subject tonight is Love

And for tomorrow night as well,

As a matter of fact

I know of no better topic

For us to discuss

Until we all

Die!

When I first heard this poem I was at my friend’s 40th birthday. He was standing in his backyard, friends gathered around, and he read this poem with a smile. I literally froze, with my jaw dropped. It was like everything I ever wanted to say had just been said for me. The idea that we could die at any moment of any day has been with me since childhood. I was incredibly superstitious and took all the rituals like not stepping on cracks and knocking on wood to keep bad things from happening VERY seriously. It was like I was obsessed with keeping the bad (harm, illness, death) at bay. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that poof, people just die. That we have these seemingly big, complicated lives but at any moment we can fall to our death from a Ferris wheel, get swooshed by a big log, or murdered by someone who doesn’t even know us. I have always been aware of that possibility. You never had to tell me not to go to bed in an argument, or to say I love you while I have the chance. I have been saying I love you ten times a day since I was a kid, just in case it’s the last time I see them. So when I heard this poem it was like, YES, love is the only thing we have time for here. It is such a short period of time that we are visiting earth, getting to be with our people, let’s love so much we ache from it.

What should our readers know about your business?
I am very proud of the Million Person Project, our personal storytelling company. We exist to support people in telling their truest personal stories publicly. We have worked with over 3,000 people from 70 different countries. It has been easy in a lot of ways because I am very risk tolerant. I make huge goals and then I invest like crazy in mentors. I need people to really push me and be watching me to make sure I don’t settle for “good enough”. My biggest challenge in my business is my lethargy. It’s probably the last word that anyone would ever use to describe me but in the privacy of my own office, sitting alone in front of my laptop, I really have to reckon with it. More days than I care to admit I just stare blankly into my computer feeling total nothingness. It goes away if I go play with my kid or get on a call with a storyteller, but I can’t do that every minute of every day so I have had to learn to navigate it. I still struggle with it but the thing that has helped me the most is sharing about it. It feels so out of character for me because I am bubbly and almost annoyingly half glass full, so it has been easy to hide. But yeah, sharing about it and getting accountability REALLY helps me not give into the blankness.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, I live in San Francisco but my family is from LA.

In LA, I have two main activities.

Playing scrabble and cooking with my 98-year-old Grandma Bina Boo who lives in Eagle Rock. That is a dream LA day for me and one that I have definitely taken my best friend to do with me and hope to do again soon.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to recognize my mentor, Zoe Inman. She is a true healer and someone who has helped me look at the deepest, most shameful parts of myself without drowning in my embarrassment. She is also a Trump supporter, which has been very confusing for me as her dedicated student, but also makes me feel like I don’t live exclusively in a progressive Bay Area bubble because “I personally love a Trump supporter!” 🙂

Website: www.millionpersonproject.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millionpersonproject

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-box-mpp/

Twitter: @millionperson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/millionpersonproject

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