Community can be a bit fluffy. A bit intangible. A bit directionless at times. We can believe in something, yet actioning it into reality is a whole other story.
This year I've learned we can do better. We can be more focused. We can double down on what matters. We can focus on action, processes, following through and being inspired by the possibilities.
We can create transformation and change. We can naturally uplift people. We can redefine the rules. We can decide things weren't good enough. We can accept that opportunities were missed.
We can re-evaluate the ecosystem and make new discoveries. We can decide we or others didn't get it right. We can appreciate the complexity of humanity and the tasks we are assigned. We can come to realize it can involve both the amazing and the terrible.
When we dive into community it looks and sounds easy. It lacks clarity and it is then up to us to define it. We have opportunity to create better. To see it as a system, that is naturally complicated. To become an expert of a community system is hard.
When we create a community, people take advantage, or lack understanding. Or maybe they don't value the heart of what has gone into it. Or they don't have the capacity to give right now. Or they create harm. Or they act in self-interest. Or they complain without understanding the consequences of who they can harm. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes they just lack awareness. They don't see what we see. They don't pay attention to the system as a whole, they shouldn't have to. That's our role.
We think we can point to the things that are community, but really what we are pointing at is a symptom of the system we have created. That person who gives up their free time to help someone, that's a symptom of the system. Equally, the person who harassed someone is a symptom too (and in this case it should cause alarm bells). We must pay attention to the symptoms.
We deal with the extreme emotions. We are often the brunt of negativity. We are quick to be told when something isn't working. Yet, we aspire for and experience positive outcomes. The peaks and troughs are real. This makes community equally the best job in the world, in addition to the hardest. When something hasn't worked, it's not because we have failed. It's because something in the system didn't work.
I choose to focus on the positivity of lifting people up. It feels so internally right. So special. So change making. The more we listen to the people and the ecosystem, the more we can understand the system we live in. The more we can understand where best to place people to create that connection, where we believe things may actually gain traction, and therefore create change. Where I used to see the act of lifting someone up as an action we take in the community, I now see it as a symptom of the systems we create.
For people to see the value of community, we need to double down on action and change on a systemic level. This is when people start to pay attention. Change-making isn't specifically just a community building thing, but I do believe the best kind of change is community-led. It feels organic and natural, yet all our work is part of a system, partly intentional, partly keeping our fingers crossed we're making the right and best decisions possible.
I am proud to say I live to form community. I fly the flag. With strength and commitment. Yet others will continue to lack understanding. They don't see the value. They don't want to pay, even with kindness or reciprocity. They expect us to serve unconditionally. This challenge is part of our system too, the fun is trying to create the tweaks to seek the changes we seek. They don't understand it is not us who serves them, it is the system.
Nevertheless, I continue. Because I believe in the collective action of raising people's voices, ideas and stories. I believe this is the way and it is only when the system fails that people will realise what they didn't have.
The uplifting of the people, connections, stories and opportunity making are paramount to community building, but they are only the beginning. What we do with what we discover is the real opportunity. The uplifting only works if the system enables it.
I now see uplifting people as part of the system. We build it in. As our culture. As our process. The system is built to uplift to an extent that we may not always notice. And that's ok. That't why we do it. At some point the system takes over. Lifting people up is not only about the visible action of patting people on the back, or giving them a helping hand. The most powerful way to lift people up is through the systems we create.
And as I continue my own community journey, my boundaries are refined. My learnings in life make me who I am. I have less patience for behaviours and actions that don't align. I realise that when I protect myself, I also protect those around me. I become more blunt and direct. I protect my time, energy and my space, and that of others. I redefine where time (and hence money) is spent. This is me working on the community system.
Belonging, conversations, relationships, and trust are essential to community. However, they also are part of a community system. It is up to us to build it.
🐌
