I’ve been thinking a lot about Community lately.
My favourite thing about the work I do has always been the people I get to meet, be inspired by, and have the opportunity to help in some way.
But when I first introduced group classes to my business over 7 years ago, something shifted.
I started to feel a different energy. I started to notice you sharing your stories & challenges with each other. I noticed how you would push each other to give hard things a go. How you would look out for each other in sessions. How you would notice when someone was away, and ask if they were ok. I noticed you making connections with each other, separate from me. And I loved it. I still love it. It truly warms my heart.
I realise now, that this is community. And there is so much strength in it.
I used to think that ‘community’ meant the neighbourhood I lived in, or the school/university I went to, but I realise now it is so much more than this!
It’s about finding your tribe. Feeling connected to people with a similar interest or purpose. Feeling a sense of belonging. And I think it really is one of the most essential ingredients to enjoying a fulfilling life.
I also think that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one or two communities. We each have so many different facets to our identities – wouldn’t it be amazing if we had a community for each of these? You could have your mama community, your business owner community, your gardening-lover community, your exercise/health community…
Now you might already have all of these…but I know from speaking with lots of mamas in clinic that so many of you are missing this! You go back and forth between worker and mama, feeling that there’s not much time for anything else. Your interests, hobbies or passions (if you can remember what they are!) can feel like ‘nice to haves’ rather than ‘essential to haves’.
But the thing is, the need for this type of connection doesn’t go away. We just often find ourselves looking for it in the wrong places, like on social media… But social media isn’t really about connection, belonging or support, is it? It’s about sharing content, becoming an authority, growing audiences and being seen. There’s certainly a place for all of this, but we can’t really call it community.
So as you can see, I’ve got DEEP down this rabbit hole.
But I am out the other side now! And I’m feeling motivated to keep my purpose for social media in perspective, and inspired to find more wild and wonderful ways to keep building connections within our special GLOW community!
What about you? Is there room for more ‘Community’ in your life?