Community: a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
According to Google, as well as traditional standards, that's the definition of community; very black-and-white. "A group of people living in the same place." That's most likely the answer you'd get if you asked someone what community means.
However, I don't agree with the first part of the definition. I think it goes way deeper.
To me, community is not about proximity at all. I define community as any group of individuals that support one another. Those individuals could be close in proximity; they may not. They may live 10 minutes away, or 10 hours away. Distance does not matter. What matters is their mutual compassion for one another.
When a community comes together, amazing things happen. The impossible can be achieved. A community of firemen can put out a roaring fire in an apartment. A community can raise money to buy a homeless family a new house after their old one got destroyed.
To me, that's what community is all about -- offering hope to the hopeless and helping them rebuild what was once lost. It can be all summed out in one tiny word: hope.
Community and recovery, from anything, go hand-in-hand. I write primarily about mental health, so what exactly does that look like for those struggling with mental health? It means sitting across from a counselor, your best friend, a family member. It's going online and searching for people who feel the way you do; whether that be through Instagram or a forum. It's being honest. It's knowing that people need people and we don't need to go through anything alone. It's inviting others into your story and asking for a hand to hold. Recovery requires honesty.
Community is all well and good, but it's meaningless if you don't let those people in. It's about taking risks because the idea of change might be downright terrifying, but nothing's as terrifying as staying exactly where you are. Take the risk. Invite others in. Let them love you. Sometimes, that's the only way we make it through life. We can't survive completely on our own. We need people to hold our hand and reassure us.
Mental illness such as depression or anxiety can be isolating enough, but that's why we need to be brave and break out of that isolation -- whether your community is five people or 50.
People love you. Let them.
