Hey everyone, My name’s Stephen and If we just met, you wouldn’t have guessed that I was an extremely shy person. It was actually quite funny and sad when I think back to times where shyness affected the way I would present projects, ask people for help when I needed it or talk to people I just met.
Looking back, of course, you wish you could have a do-over but life happens once and some things just don’t happen the second time around. That’s something I keep reminding myself when I go travel, meet new people and experience new things.
There were definitely turning points in my life where I felt I needed to just break out of my habits and get out of my comfort zone. I think what really helped was being true to myself. I took what I was most interested in and went with it without knowing what the benefits or consequences were going to be. Now I’m doing what I love doing and connecting with people I’ve never met before while sharing Ideas and creating new things!
Before I started becoming a local guide, I really depended on other people’s reviews and pictures and I think the realization came when I was traveling to Japan. I was just blown away at how helpful people could be. This helped me understand that I could take part and help others who travel to my home city or even when I travel to new cities. I started by answering yes and no questions as a local guide, still being afraid to post an actual review. However, one day I felt this restaurant deserved a good review and I just went ahead to review it. I gave my honest opinion and it felt liberating.
Being a local guide now has taught me to step out and go explore - visit new restaurants, review new places, share insight and perspective. I love the sense of exploring and bringing back my own experiences to share with others. It’s such an infectious feeling to help others and when I see people actually viewing and liking my reviews, I get even more inclined to keep exploring and finding new things to share. It felt good to know that the reviews I was posting were potentially helping people make decisions.
Simply put, I love sharing my experiences on google maps. I feel the experience of sharing and being in a community like local guides have furthered my love for stepping out and doing something new, especially trying out new restaurants. Whether it’s sharing photos, reviews or answering people’s questions, I feel good about helping others who may use google maps like I do to find and get insight.
Most importantly I share because I want people to know that there’s so much of the world to see. Even though I may not be able to travel to every single place on earth and review every restaurant, I’ve taken it upon myself to help spread this sense of community and to show others that they should do something new too! It can start with simply sharing a picture or answering yes or no questions on Google maps. Together we can all connect, experience and gain new insight to not only help each other but to enhance our own lives while doing so!
(Attached are some of the more recent and memorable places I’ve been to or eaten at)
