Have you let yourself become a regular anywhere?
Often, visiting places, stores, coffee shops, parks, restaurants, etc., can be baby steps towards building community and being known. Perhaps not on deep deep levels, but it offers something interesting when thought of in self-care-terms.
If you are are already a regular somewhere, take a moment to think about what that space, what those people, what that ritual offers you.
If you either haven't let yourself become a regular somewhere, or haven't ever thought of the potential value, let me offer some of what I have learned in my process of showing up at a local coffee shop Street Bean quasi-consistently...
(image courtesy of google maps)
- I get to have a "third place" of my choosing outside of my home or work where I can write and rest and be. (watch out (pun intended) starmoney keeps their third places/coffee shops clock free - which speaks to the way time can go by in an interesting way in third places)
- I am letting myself be known on some levels by those I might not get to talk with otherwise
- I am opening my eyes to a new community of people who are all drawn to the same sort of space for any number of reasons (beauty, the ways the space aligns with personal values, location....)
- I am allowing myself to intentionally be a part of a community, investing money in those who work there, those who choose to spend time there, and in the neighborhood the place is in (how do you support your own neighborhood?)
When I asked a friend recently how our friend's baby boy was warming up to her, she answered, "Slowly but surely, which is fine by me, because that is a great way to form a healthy relationship." Becoming a regular can be a practice of incrementally letting yourself be accepted and known by others and vice-versa!
