I Want You to Thrive — A Poem About Community

I want you to thrive.
Mind, body, and spirit.
I want you to be courageous.
Ask that cutie to dance. Chat up your boss about that promotion.
I want you to make art.
Have a project, money or not. Build it. Enjoy it.
Make something new in the world for the joy of making something new in the world. Expression is joy is freedom.
I want you to sing.
Sing loud. Sing in public. If you feel it, Go for it. Joy spreads.
I want you to dance like no one’s watching. Unhinged like a child. Pure radiance.
I want you to have a larger community to lean on. In times of need — large and small.
A community of people you trust. To do business with. To trade clothes with. To exchange ideas together.
I want you to have a social scene. People who you’ve seen around a lot. People you have mutual friends with, but maybe you’ve never met them, or maybe you forgot their name. You’re not close, but you kind of like them.
And maybe, just maybe, on some fundamental level, you share a worldview with these people. Maybe you have similar core values. Books. Movie tastes… intellectual pursuits.
You have people to play board games with. To talk about your passions with. You have a whole group of people who are into that weird thing you’re into…
You actually met them through a friend through a friend through a party through a drunken hookup through a roommate through a flirtatious Facebook like….
Cause. You. Know. So. Many. People.
Your circle is rich, and it's filling up. You have your significant other. Your inner circle. Your larger friend group. And your community.
You all share ideas. Music. Lovers (in the end.)
You are the average of the five people closest to you. It’s true.
And you maintain your five wisely, because you have the power of detailed choice. You can draw from an endless pool of friends of friends and friends of friends of friends… because you’re all connected by this thing.
And you can edit and rework your tribe of five over time. Because you know that relationships end. Friendships sour. Shit happens. But you will always have this thing. This place.
A piece of this place will always be in you. Because when you look back on the people that changed your life, you’ll reflect on how many you met through this place.
You’ll think about how life moves in every direction. But this place stays grounded. This place reminds you to lean into yourself more. This place reminds you of important ideas. This place is built with care. And you know that when you walk in this place, you belong.
