The importance of giving and receiving in communities

Diversity in community

2021 was a difficult year for many. That’s not to say that 2020 was any better, but for some reason, perhaps due to the “naivety” of the whole situation, it felt… “different”. I certainly felt more prepared and willing to face new challenges and to learn how to adapt.

Either way, I spent a long period of the 2020/2021 winter lockdowns trying to be as supportive and as positive to those around me as possible. I was active in online communities, helped friends and others out, supported them through hard times. I organised online meetups for some of the groups I was in, and when we slowly emerged back into in-person events, I organised those too, and kept them going, keeping up with constant changes in rules, requirements, and people’s needs.

But at a certain point I ran out of enthusiasm and energy. I continued anyway, but my reserve of drive slowly diminished. Why? It’s difficult to talk about, and feels, well, feels kind of selfish to mention at all.

People (myself included) who are active in and organise communities do it for different reasons. Here are some of mine, they overlap, and I hazard a guess they overlap with those of others who do the same.

• You want to take part in a certain activity or event and it isn’t happening in your timezone, region, or at all, so you fill…