When 9/11 happened, Tracy Maylett was on a U.S. Air Force base giving trainings to various domestic and international leaders about communication and working together. He describes the emotion surrounding the announcement and the actions of people crying together for hours. He mentions that coming home a few days later he noticed something. People were acting differently, treating each other differently, and seeing each other differently. The world had changed.

The theme of change and opportunity is mentioned throughout the entire podcast, both how we react when change happens, and how opportunities present themselves. Tracy discusses how he tries to disassociate change in his life from his emotions, because change is something that routinely happens and often leads to progress and growth. He describes change as a process that surrounds us, regardless of our age or position in life, and he also talks about how change spills over into the various components of our lives (i.e., professional and personal).

“I would say for me, success is being able to look back and realize that my life went down a path that pleases me and is right for me.”

Additionally, Tracy Maylett provides a new and fresh perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic internationally. He discusses how we truly have realized that we are an international community, and that globalization has individually linked and connected each of us in some way. We are no longer able to have group meetings, go into work, or learn at school together. Instead, we are engaged in a mental process that takes a lot of adjusting to. Tracy offers his insight into the crisis that often, collectively, we come out of crisis with a sense of gratitude.

He also offers a few profound questions that we can all consider and ask ourselves. Coming out of the crisis, we should ask ourselves, how have we spent the last six months? Have we taken our lives into our own hands and developed a new skill or embraced change in a good way? Have we made the most of our circumstances in order to capitalize on various opportunities?

“I would never call a pandemic a gift. At the same time, we have an opportunity to do something we may not have had in the past.”

Tracy talks about how routine is a good thing because it establishes normality in our lives. However, routines can be dangerous because it can cause us to disengage from our environment and from each other. In order to stay engaged we need to interact with our environment. We need meaning, control, and connection. Even with the global pandemic happening, we are each able to find meaning and connection in our lives if we can learn how to engage in a new and different way.