Last updated on February 24, 2020
You know, a community is magical. People equate it with finding their people. Finding their tribe. But do we even understand what a community is?
I’ve thought about it quite it bit over the past few years and the theory I’ve come up with is – Community is a group of people with a Shared Identity or Beliefs. It can be your family, which shares its blood identity. Or it can be a country, residents of which shares its geographical identity. It can also be around brands, like Apple has created around beautiful tech products or Nike who have developed athletic runners out of everyone. Every religion is a community. Every organization/business/company should technically be a community. Every housing society is a community, and even a group of young moms is a community.
A community is a space for you to find other people like you. People who can understand your thoughts better than others. People with whom you can share about a specific problem or phase of your life. People with whom you can do the activities that no one else you know does.
The shared identity or belief helps each one of the community members to reinforce each other’s perspective. To feel that they are not alone and that there are others who believe the same as you. And because you have different beliefs for different things, you can move in between multiple communities easier. Or be loosely attached to one and deeply involved in another. Sometimes you no longer want to stay in a community but stick around for the relationships you’ve built, or because your friends are in it. That’s exactly why we grow out of some friendships, and yet others stay alive for a lifetime. And your life is always formed in and around multiple, overlapping communities.
So yes, communities are beautiful and magical. Especially to find others like you or at least a belief of yours. Which makes it worthwhile to do all the work around that belief. Because your community is rooting for you to win at that work. Because they are also invested.
They might not be able to show it always due to their own personal/professional reasons. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care. It just means they are busy dealing with their own life right now and waiting for you to continue the work you’re doing.
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