When I was in college, I would go up and talk to random people in order to "wing-man" for friends at schools and at other various establishments. I worked in retail where I could talk to just about anybody from all walks of life and express myself pretty fluently. Slowly this willingness to reach out to others has gone away from me.
I find myself reflecting pretty frequently why this might be?
I think part of it is that I am now in a more insulated environment; I go to work where the people are the same, I come home to my family, I'm not in totally different places leading to new people everyday. I also don't have many reasons to reach out to new people because the time in my life where I'm in these situations has gone way down. I'm no longer in 5 new classes a semester with totally different people while also going out with friends to help them meet people. Instead, my life is on a more direct track.
The thing of it is is that now I feel like I am disconnected from the communities I am a part of. Because I have become less willing to branch out, I have chosen to make myself unavailable to the community I serve through teaching, the community I live in, and my church community. So I've made it a goal of mine recently to change that.
I have quasi joined our church outreach team, which is responsible for reaching out to members of our community and setting up events at the church. I'm not a very organized person, but I figured this could give me a chance to meet some new people and create an impact in a community that I enjoy living in. I've been working with my school administrators to help reach out to some families who need more support for their students, which has also been a big step. However, I needed something more immediate.
As I was considering different ways to build community, I wanted to explore it in terms of some of my passions. Most of my best friends have kids, so I didn't really feel a need to find a "parenting group" as it were, so that was out. I'm already involved with educators around me; most of more immediate friends are teachers now, so that wasn't really something I was worried about.
But running...maybe running is the thing.
It's on the running sub-reddit probably once a week; the benefits of joining a running club. I never ran in school on cross country or in track, so I've never really had to run in a group. I started running on my own as a way to get in shape that was also cost efficient. So I decided that this was the perfect opportunity.
I reached out to our HOA group on Facebook and asked who would be interested in joining a running group. In total, I had about 15 people express interest. So, I created a club on Strava and invited people to join. Suddenly, I have put myself in charge of a social situation to lead a club that is centered around something that I am not all that great at. I wanted to create a sense of community, I wanted to build something.
This is my chance.
So, I'm nervous. Why? I have to meet new people, lead them in some sort of group activity, and keep the excitement going. I have yet to set a date for our first group run but I'm excited along with the nerves. I want to try to build something that will help other people. Obviously the purpose of this group won't be to create a Boston Marathon ready team; it will be to build other people up.
I think it's important that we not only create strong families, but that those families in turn create strong communities. I think it's something I have lost sight of in my changing experiences and I want to get it back. I want to be able to reach out to people that I have become involved with and find out what their goals and hopes are. How can I help others and how will this increased sense of community affect me? I want to grow myself to become someone that my children can grow to look up to. I want my sons to be involved in their community and be willing to reach out to those around them.
I want there to always be a community for my family to flourish in, and sometimes, that means creating one. You may think that a running club is a funny place to start, but it's one that makes sense to me at this moment. Who knows, could be a huge flop. Or it might start something great!
Best.
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