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b'Joe Keohane has been meeting strangers for decades. As an accomplished journalist and editor, Joe has made a career out of listening to people he doesn\\u2019t know and engaging with their stories. But as the world reemerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness is on the rise, and strangers feel more strange than maybe ever before. Is there still something to be gained from expanding our social circles and interacting with strangers after 18 months of isolation? Joe sure thinks so.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nOn this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci sits down with Joe to talk about his brand new book, The Power of Strangers. Together the two talk about the impact listening to strangers has on us, the magic of meeting someone new, and how to cultivate a healthy curiosity towards others in an effort to combat loneliness. There may never be a more perfect time for this conversation as we relearn how to connect with those around us.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nEpisode Timeline:\\xa0\\n[00:07] Intro\\xa0\\n[02:43] Meet Joe\\xa0\\n[07:39] Why Joe wrote The Power of Strangers \\xa0\\n[16:40] The impact listening to strangers has on us\\xa0\\n[21:55] The magic of meeting strangers\\xa0\\n[27:20] What surprised Joe in his research\\xa0\\n[36:18] Loneliness after the pandemic\\xa0\\n[42:49] Traci and Joe\\u2019s hospitality stories\\xa0\\xa0\\n[47:03] Joe\\u2019s word for you\\xa0\\n[49:45] Outro\\xa0\\n\\nResources Mentioned:\\xa0\\nThe Power of Strangers: The benefits of connecting in a suspicious world\\xa0\\n\\nStandout Quotes:\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\u201cIt really doesn\\u2019t take that much for people to feel comfortable with you. It\\u2019s not that hard for a total stranger to be like, \\u2018oh yeah, we can get along!\\u2019 just because of this piece of fabric on my head.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cIn a way, every time you speak to a stranger, if you learn to do it well, you get a little glimpse of what the life of another person is like, and that\\u2019s huge.\\u201d \\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cIt becomes very difficult to dismiss a group of people when you\\u2019ve had good engagements with members of that group.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cThere\\u2019s a lot in a person, and when you talk to them you get to travel to that little universe, you get to interact with it.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cOne of the more curious things about humans is that we are neophobic and neophiliac at the same time\\u2014we\\u2019re afraid of new things, but we love new things.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cIt\\u2019s in our benefit to grow our social networks, to have friends.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cThe opportunity that COVID presents us with is it took us very quickly to the conclusion that we were slowly moving towards anyways, which was 300 million individuals alone in rooms looking at screens.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\u201cAlmost every crisis we\\u2019re facing right now is a crisis of belonging.\\u201d\\u2014Joe Keohane\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nConnect:\\nFind | Sidewalk Talk Podcast\\nAt sidewalk-talk.org\\nOn Instagram: @sidewalktalkorg\\nOn Twitter: @sidewalktalkorg\\n\\xa0\\nFind | Traci Ruble\\nAt Traciruble.com\\nOn Instagram: @TraciRubleMFT\\nOn Twitter: @TraciRubleMFT\\nOn Facebook: @TraciRubleMFT\\n\\xa0\\nFind | Joe Keohane\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\nAt JoeKeohane.net\\nOn Twitter: @JoeKeohane\\nOn LinkedIn: @JoeKeohane \\xa0\\n\\nSUBSCRIBE TO THIS PODCAST\\nOn Apple Podcasts\\nOn Google Podcasts\\nOn Spotify'