Why Having a Community Is Essential

In the world we live in now, new technologies come out constantly. These technologies help people become more efficient. But in the midst of these, there is a growing epidemic of loneliness. It’s a sad contrast: many people become more efficient on the outside but emptier on the inside.

There is an essential component that is missing here and that is community. We all need to have a community.

By community, I mean a group of people who care about you and want to support you. On the other hand, you also care about them and want to support them. A community is a group of people who care about each other. A group of people who only think about themselves is not a community.

Here are four reasons why having a community is essential.

1. It’s a basic human need.

I just read the book summary of The Power of Meaning. It says that one pillar of a meaningful life is a sense of belonging. In fact, it’s a basic human need. Without a sense of belonging, your life would lose its meaning.

2. You need support in hard times.

Like it or not, there are hard times in life. It will be very difficult to go through them alone. Having a community, on the other hand, will make it much easier for you. Why? Because now you go through them together with other people.

3. It makes you healthy.

Studies show that having an emotional support can boost your immune system. You will become more resistant to diseases. It might be unexpected, but having a community can make you healthy.

4. It trains you to be selfless.

While you can get a lot in a community, it’s actually a place to practice giving. Being in a community teaches us not to be selfish. Instead, we learn to care about other people.

It’s difficult to practice giving in isolation. But in a community, you have plenty of opportunities to do that. You will think about yourself less because you think about other people more.

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I wrote about the why above, but I left out the how part. For that, I’d like to ask you:

How do you find a community?

Please share your answer in the comments. Thanks!

19 Comments

  1. I can really relate to this post. I am a single mother and nursing student, earlier this year I felt lonley when I had leasure time. What I decide to do is start a woman’s group in my community where we meet up in person and do various activities. Sometimes, I think people have the assumption that social media interaction is community- nothing can replace face to face intimate and engaging conversations.

  2. Nothing is better than be with many people and share your ideas about some task

  3. […] a little kinder to those you encounter at work and just everyday life in general. I was reading an article on a life optimizer blog, about the idea of “community” and what it essentially means – a community is  […]

  4. Community is reli important especially you are in hard time tgat I was experiencing. Spritual community are essential. They have similar values under teaching from Bible. Sisters will listen and pray for you that made me felt so warm even the actual envirnoment and issue didn’t change a lot.

  5. I have grown up alone, without receiving a mother’s love and care, nor did feel father’s protection. Mostly spent my childhood in boarding schools. At the age of 18 went abroad to study, and lived in 4 countries. At the age of 45 came back to the land where I was born, I was deported, as my marriage got annulled. Lost all my material savings. Now I have no close friends or family . Got married again to a beautiful human, but then again I am finding it very difficult to adjust with the society around me, even to my wife’s family, and to my wife. In the society where I live, people are with only surviving attitude ( that is how I see them) . Many time think about to run away or kill myself. Now I have reached the age of 52, I am being unable to start a family anew. I am not feeling lonely I think, I rather feel alone. My wife’s family members are not in talking terms, caused by some money issue, that gives me more insecurity about my being as a husband.

    • Its so difficult to receive and understand human inter action when people do not recieve anything from the start of their life.

      How ever from all your experinces there could be things that you learnt about yourself.
      Things and values that you feel are qualities that you behold.

      Living uour life for yourself is important. You called you wife a beautiful human being. Even though she has a family you married her to build a life with. Step back from the ‘family feud’ continue to build your life with your wife.

      You don’t need premission from anyone to follow your own path. And as you find the things that you enjoy doing you will find like minded people, that will become your ‘community’ those that will become your extended family, those that would give a lending hand or an extended ear.

      Live your life, its to short to waste.
      Look forward plan dream and build

    • Hi Aruna,
      There is always hope, so please don’t ever think about running away. Feel free to contact me if there is anything I can help.

  6. Thanks for the post enjoyed it a lot!

  7. What a great post! To add, based on my experience, I had the chance before to work at home. I thought it was a great idea since I no longer need to take the bus to work and I could enjoy working within the comforts of my own home. But it didn’t really help, I got more lonely working on hard projects on my own, that’s why I decided to work on a co-working space where I get to meet many people who even helps me without asking anything in return until such time everyone helps out each other on their individual projects.

  8. The need for community becomes more relevant everyday as people become reliant on technology. I am currently working on my relationships and building my circle of influence. Great content!

  9. We are social animals and this is all. We are needed in human relationship. We are seeking for acceptance.

  10. In his classical book, ”How to win friends and influence people” writer – Dale Carnegie, affirms that one of the principles is… -TO BE INTRESTED IN OTHER PEOPLE-, period!

    Surely our greatest resource are people. Correct me if am wrong.

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