Community Craving

A few weeks ago I was sitting at my desk at the Kroc Center and as I was checking my email, I looked up and saw two people rushing to cycle class.  To be honest I was very jealous.   I would rather go to cycle class than scroll through my emails.  The two people rushing to class always give the class a little boost with their great personalities.  I recently realized why I enjoy group classes as much as I do and why they encourage me.  The key is “community”.  Last week the cycle class instructor mentioned how a class setting creates a unique community and I had an “Aha” moment.  You know that moment when you realize someone is talking directly to you and it all makes sense. 

 Group classes make people a part of something bigger than themselves and they also give each person som accountability and a desire to want to go to class to take care of themselves.  It was funny, a few weeks ago one of the participants who is pregnant was leaving class one day to go to the doctors to find out the gender of the baby.  We were all happy to hear it’s a girl!  Her fourth! This is community to me.

Community is what I crave the most in life since I moved away from my family in NH over 5 years ago.  I have a large family and I grew up in a small town where literally everyone knows everyone.  Oddly, little things like cycle class, work out buddies and even the staff at the Kroc Center that notice when I missed a few days helps to make me feel a part of a community. 

I am curious if others feel the same way in life about community, not just at a fitness center but in everyday life.  Until I moved away and lost my sense of community I think I just took it for granted, feeling like it will always be there, what I did not realize is how community needs to be cultivated and it takes time to feel that sense of community. 

Where is your community?  Home, family, fitness, church school, friends?? What is community to you?