I've been reviewing my writing that isn't on this blog from over the years, but particularly from the beginning of this year. One thing that stood out for me has been my long standing desire to continue building communities around things I find collectively fascinating.
I've thinking about the narrative for my own life. Like millions before me - and probably everyone right now - I too question the reason for my existence. Is there a divine purpose to life? Or is purpose what I give to life? I'll write when I find out. But I digress.
The idea of community has had a profound impact on my life for as long as I can remember. Especially as a young adult, I spent ridiculous hours creating spaces & events for people to get together. For at least five years, I helped organise the Christmas fete at the local church, drawing tens of thousands of people to get together. One particular year, I remember being the only one on the church grounds, desperately trying to get a few last tents set up while everyone else had headed home for Christmas lunch!
For the last two decades, community-based events have been what I've turned my attention to unconsciously, especially when work was meaning-less. This year, right in the thick of pandemic-induced separation, I expanded a weekly discussion forum that I help curate at work. It draws ~100-150 people to devote an hour to listening to an interesting speaker talk about their ideas. The feedback from the few people who reached out after these events has been that they've looked forward to every one of them, even when the topic of discussion wasn't directly related to their employment, because it helped them grow their understanding of the world a little bit more.
What's the point of this all?
I'm not sure yet, really. But that's the point of this blog: to write out my thoughts publicly & unashamedly about things, while I look like a pig in mud, grappling with ideas & discovering for myself.
