EQUIP: 31 days of 5-minute free writes

Today, I fulfilled a commitment I had made to help make phone calls for a dear friend who is running for office. This isn’t just an acquaintance — more of an “I’d walk over hot coals to help you” type of pal.

Here’s the thing: Despite years of advocacy in a variety of ways, I still did not feel equipped to talk to strangers on the phone (to people who likely were not receptive to a cold call on a Saturday afternoon).

When the coordinator had not emailed me the login info for my 11 a.m. shift, I dragged my feet about letting him know. When I did, he said, “It’s fine we can fit you in now!” This was around noon.

I summoned my courage and pressed “start.” I also have to say — this is my first time using such a sophisticated system for making political advocacy calls and it’s all pretty fascinating. Never underestimate what data mining has found out about you and can share with people who want/need to reach you!

After every call (confession…) I pressed “pause calling” long enough to muster up the courage to try the next person.

The thing is — a couple of people supported my candidate (yay!). A couple of people hung up, which is fine (same thing I would do, to be honest). I got a few voice mails (easy peasy).