How to Become a Community ‘kinda’ Fella

In summer 2019, I took a one-way flight with my family to relocate to a country that we will call home, Canada. Despite all the excitement and adventures of the new journey, the anxiousness from the ambiguity and the unknown are clouding my mind.

My main objective for the first few months, asides from the basic settling, was to find a community to drive me forward and become a better person, but also, ease my transition and integration into the new society, while feeling comfortable among them. As Jim Rohn said: “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” https://www.jimrohn.com.

Keeping that in mind, I had to find my five people (or groups) that will help me, but also allow me to help them, to grow.

In my opinion the 5 most important community to always seek to belong,

Health Community

First thing is first, your mental and physical health are important. Without them you will not have the energy and motivation to move forward and achieve your dream. For starters, finding a sport is the way to go, to make you move and get you going. Do not settle until you find a group that you feel welcomed in and belong to.

So now let’s look at how to find them.

- Google is always a safe place to start with, just google “group exercise near me” and start reading reviews, ratings, and overall feel about the place and vibes.

- If you are already in a group exercise then try to engage more with the community, group exercises can be ranging from classes within a gym, CrossFit boxes, spinning classes, HIIT programs to walking groups.

Work Community

Whether you’re in corporate, a freelancer or an entrepreneur, be sure to surround yourself with people who have similar or same goals. You can be blessed with influential colleagues or line managers who will become or are your “circles of growth” but if not, no worries the world is full of inspiration, such as:

- In coworking space

- Meetup apps

- Eventbrite (networking/career fairs)

- Set a to-go-to networking event once a month, get out of the office/home

Mentorship Community

This one is quite tricky, we assume that our line manager is the mentor, but in some cases, it is actually the opposite. How can I find one? Easy.

- Go online, search the topic that interests you – from sports, food, lifestyle, entrepreneurship, fashion you name it, and find the best person in this topic and literally stalk them. Study their behavior, what they read about, which events they attend, which topics are they interested in.

- Subscribe to their podcast, YouTube, Instagram, whatever the mean that fits well with your personality

- If you are from the lucky people that have a mentor near them and are able to meet frequently, do NOT take it for granted – make sure you absorb (less talking, more listening) every time you are with them. I’d advise that you do some homework on the topic/skills/challenges before meeting them. This is a wealth of experience at your disposal. MAKE IT COUNT.

Friends/families community

Felt like this needed to be at the end, as it is a sensitive topic. Your childhood friends are always your comfort zone; the ones you go to when you are down. But as we grow, our interests change; your life’s priorities change.

It is totally fine that you notice that your circle of childhood friends changes as you grow, this means that the amount of time spent with childhood friends changes as your interests are not the same and spend more time with new friends who have similar interests. There is a difference between spending time with family just to make you feel good about yourself and spending time with individuals who will open your mind for better ideas to tackle your life.

- Facebook/LinkedIn have been great places to find old friends that you could have lost a connection with, they could be sharing your interest or future goal

And finally, faith. Believe in the process. Do not lose hope. As cliché as it sounds “life is a rollercoaster” we attract good things because we believe and expect good things to come. We are evolving every day, and the only reality is that we will change, so as the community that surrounds us, you will not always have the luxury of finding the right community from the first time, but it might take several attempts until you find the community that just feels right to be around in.