Okay friends let’s try this.
It’s my 31st birthday today, so I decided to get over my excuses and anxieties and launch The Right Number, the experimental voicemail box I’ve been muttering about for the past few months. It went up on Twitter and Instagram this morning and I’m delighted to say that it appears to be working. And by “working” I mean “I’ve spent over an hour today listening to strangers’ voices and weeping openly at my desk over their honesty and bravery.”
Here’s the pitch: dialing (503) 673-6267 will connect you straight to a voicemail box with a brief prompt. The current prompt is:
What’s something you wish someone would say to you right now?
Could be someone specific. Could just be a general sentiment you need to hear. There are no wrong answers. You can also call and talk about whatever you like for three minutes. I’m not picky.
Prompts will rotate every couple of weeks, so if this particular one doesn’t speak to you check back in down the line. I just wanted to make something that would allow people to benefit from having a place to speak and be heard. That’s the gift you’ve all given me by making room for my Rambles, so I figured it was time to pay it forward.
I would love to share the heartfelt, magnificent things that folks have recorded so far, but currently this project is private and anonymous. I don’t track phone numbers, and I won’t share audio publicly without consent. I can tell you, though, that there is already a wealth of humbling material, and that it is going to shape and impact my work moving forward through Quarantine and for many years to come.
Feel free to send this to anyone who might need an ear. I’m curious and hopeful and feeling right about having put this into this world at this moment, and of course: it wouldn’t exist without you.
See you in the voicemail box,
L
