Dec 7 2010

community. {reverb10 – day 7}

::

Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010?

::

I hang out by myself a lot. I work at home, so the great majority of my time is spent here, alone, with all these cats.

I am a loner, but I am almost never lonely.

Since I started my blogs earlier this year, I have made many new friends, my community has expanded exponentially. I have always been the kind of person that has just a few close friends, I am not so good in groups or wide social circles. I’m not someone who always has a lot of social engagements, I am quite content to stay at home.

But something in me is changing.

It’s not just that I am meeting so many new people, some of whom have become true friends, it is that I am learning to love humanity.

Does that sound weird?

Well, it probably does, but what I mean is that I have learned to embrace other people in ways that I never used to. I have learned how to forgive, how to accept, how to not hold back out of fear or shyness or insecurity.

I’m not always perfect at it, but this is a big change for me.

In high school, I was a geek, a nerd, I was very successful academically, I graduated eighth in my class. But socially, well, as my husband would say, I was a donut.

That was a long time ago, and I had learned to navigate my way through the world well before this year.

But I hadn’t yet learned to walk right up and give it a hug.

And that might just be the most important thing I learned all year.

Or in my life.