Whether your borrowing some flour from your neighbour, walking the dog of the elderly person on your street, playing a game with your friends or merely smiling at someone as you pass them by, community is a big part of all of our lives in one way or another.
Being alone all the time can get pretty lonely, sometimes it is easy to think that there is no one around or that no one understands you, but in reality, that is not true! Community can be whatever you want it to be, but what it means to me is a support system unique to you that whether you realise it or not will support you through everything. For a lot of people, their communities are their families, but realistically, this is also not true for a lot of people, the people you wait at the bus stop with in the morning are a community, the people that work at your local shop consider you a part of their community, and the people that you work/learn with are also a big community of yours.
There is not a lot to say about this, because as you can hopefully now tell, the number of communities that you are apart of is probably unimaginable with the number of interactions that we all have on a daily basis, but what I want this blog to teach you is that in the moments that you feel the most alone, even if there is no one physically with you, there are thousands of people that are in one way or another connected to you and as a result you are never truly alone.
So, what do I want you to take from this? We live in an age where connecting with people is easier than ever before, and so with an awareness of these communities we can come to realise that we have thousands of connections and contacts throughout the world, many of them being merely a few clicks away. This means two things; one, that we are not alone, and that if we are ever in need of support or feel as though no one cares about us, we can reassure ourselves that this is not true and that there are countless people that would be willing to help us. Two, in the same way that we now realise the support that is available to us through our communities, as a member of these same communities we have a responsibility to care for those around us. So, take some time after reading this to reach out to the members of whatever communities you are apart of and ask them how they are doing, allow them to realise that they too are never truly alone.