Above: Eivind Andreas Endresen
It’s not everyday that I meet people who absolutely intrigue me, I usually see the same people and have the same conversations and after awhile, nothing really stands out. This week I met a man named Eivind Andreas Endresen. Eivind is a man from Rogaland, Norway and he was on vacation here in Seattle. Everyday he wakes up and has breakfast exactly at 6:30am. He walks in with the biggest smile on his face. He tells me that back home he owns a bike repair shop, and a hat/clothing store in Australia. Every morning he has a huge omelet, sausage, sunnyside eggs and a pastry saying, “Norwegians believe that breakfast should be very rich, and to never let anything go to waste”. After this, every day he chooses a bike shop to walk to. The first day, he walked to R.E.I., the second day to Fremont, and the third day to Ballard.
The first day he met me, he said how much he loves Seattle and that the people he’s met here are very sympathetic and kind. He also threw out a ton of life lessons in every story that he shared with me.
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He talked about how he loves traveling alone—he says you get to meet interesting people and share your story and listen to theirs.
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He said that there is no such thing as loneliness. As long as we have our memories, we are never truly lonely.
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And this: “All we have is time. No matter how much money we have or whatever it is, over everything all we have is time. These 24 hours”
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He says underneath everything “we are all just human beings” we are all the same. We must treat each other as such…the same.
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He said that in the next generation, he fears we will lose all face-to-face contact because we are so consumed with being glued to our cellphones and “liking” things and “adding people as a friend” that we forget the power of connecting through communication. That’s why he stresses communication, even to strangers.
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He said that stores have nothing unique to offer. Its all about selling what the consumer wants and volume and money, but fashions fade and people are too easily accessible to just buying things over the internet and we have lost the need to walk around, buy things in person, meet the creators of product.
Anyway, our conversations were long for the last few days but today I finally had the time to sit down and talk to him. He said to me: “You have sunshine in your eyes, it may be raining outside but there is sunshine in your eyes” and told me to follow my dreams whatever they may be.
I loved this man! I love anyone I meet that has more to offer than just the surface. I love getting to know complete strangers and the ability to connect on a deeper level than just “what you do for a living” conversation. It reminds me of that part from The Invitation by Oriah:
It’s very true. Too many of us don’t take the time to get to know ourselves. We have no idea what we like or who we are….we only see what we want to become and what we think we should be. When we don’t know who we truly are, how are we supposed to be genuine human beings to others? Are we ever being ourselves? Or are we putting on different faces for different people so that we may get along? Eivind was definitely a person who did exactly what he felt was right in his heart. It may not be anything extravagant but you can tell that when this man gets up every morning and goes to bed every night, he is filling his time with exactly what he wants to do and being exactly who he is. I think that it’s important for all of us to remember. As Eivind says…. “All we have is time. No matter how much money we have or whatever it is, over everything all we have is time. These 24 hours”
Take the time to create your story.
