Love for my tribe!
Scintilla continues- I’m so happy to be a part of this storytelling community- reading the various posts has been very inspiring & I’ve found some great new blogs to add to my reader. I’m trying hard to get these posts up and write from the heart. It’s been tough since I’m in the middle of the busiest time of year for my job but taking some time to write has helped ease the usual stress of pre-opening.
Day 7 Prompt: List the tribes you belong to: cultural, personal, literary, you get the drift. Talk about the experience of being in your element with your tribes.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about community, friendships, acquaintances lately so this prompt is incredibly timely. Mostly I’ve been thinking about my time and how I value what I do with it. Over the past few months I’ve really tried to examine who and what is most important to me in my life, as well as to prioritize what I want to be doing with my time. Because I’m trying to create my most joyous life everyday, I’ve stopped doing a lot of the busy work activities around the house, running errands, reading subpar books, etc. As my blog galpal Kat ( whose blog you should check out here), told me– “Life is too short for bad meals or bad books.” So true.
The other reason I’ve been thinking a lot about my community and various tribes is in how much wider my social network- both in person and online- has grown in such a short period of time. A year ago I wasn’t on Twitter, barely commented on blogs let alone had one, and counted friends as people who I saw in person on a regular basis. I now know that my friendship/acquaintance/people who rock network is huge and has no geographic bounds. Becoming an active member of the social network/blogger realm has been one of the best things I’ve done for myself, ever.
Prior to becoming an activer online network person, the traditionalist in me fought against the online friend connecting. I thought in person friendships were only were it was at. As my in person friendships changed and I examined the people I had in my life, I quickly came to understand that there were people who I had never physically met but knew very well from online who knew me better than the in-person friend for years. Yes, physical contact with people is important for the mind and soul too- the connections I’ve made with people online have helped to improve my friendships in real life too. The divorce helped me to see who my real support network is- as well as helped me to identify the people in my life who could not be there for me in my hour of need.
Looking back at how resistant I was to online friendships, I have a hard time understanding my reasoning for being so against them, especially since as a child I had several great friends who were actually pen pals- the old fashioned version of an online friendship. With the exception of two or three girls who I met when visiting my aunt over summers in Utah, I never met any of these gals.
The online tribes of Twitter, Stratejoy, the blog world, even Facebook have become so important to me because it allows me to really push myself, hold myself accountable, and find a common ground with people from all over. It makes me realize the beauty of humanity, the kindness of individuals, and how much we all want some level of connection and understanding. Those qualities enrich my life everyday- and make me hold so much more dear my close to home tribe.
Life By Kristen 