My name is Juliana, and throughout my life, I have:
a) moved around a lot, and lived in different cultures;
b) changed my family status more than a couple of times;
c) changed my profession quite a bit.
I come from a strongly family oriented culture: Brazil. My family could be described more as a clan, really. On top of that, I have throughout my life, acquired the greatest group of friends a person could possibly amass, but they have a tendency to live far…or rather, I have.
So, all these characteristics created the perfect storm: I am a great connoisseur of the feeling of belonging, and also, because I have lost that feeling several times – and had to go search for it – I started wondering if there is an easier way, a ready solution that I was not aware…maybe a map for finding friends and a community to belong to, every time I move (or your life changes)?
In my research, I’ve discovered that the short answer for that question is: NO, there is no such map, and actually, if you find it, could you please share it with us?
There may not be a map, but there is certainly a growing group of people extremely enthusiastic about finding directions on how to build connections & community, and these social innovators are out there, experimenting with all kinds of new models.
The theme is also growing in attention in the minds of academics, but it is the practitioners who are really leading the change: people that just decide to create a way to solve a problem that they too have. But I believe that the real boom will start now: after corona virus has stripped us from the right to socialize in a natural way, and has hampered our ability to move around to visit loved ones that live far. Coincidence or not, our former Surgeon General has just launched a book called ‘Together: the healing power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World’.
I believe we are up for a renaissance of connection: we have social innovators testing new reasons for connecting, new ways of connecting and new ways of organizing the fabric of connections through society. We’ll soon be having better, deeper and easier ways to connect.
If you are here, there is a good chance you also have an interest in building stronger, deeper connections and belonging to communities that foster that. I suggest you start your search here:
- If you want to learn more about the book ‘Together: the healing power of Human Connection’, I’ve provided a brief review of the book, from the perspective of someone that is searching for practical ways to foster connections;
- If you want to look at a complete list of every community or movement I’ve researched that is doing any of the things I’ve mentioned, you can read the post A complete list of Communities that foster Community;
- If you want to deepen the way you connect, read the post How to bring your power of connecting to another level;
- If you want to connect more with yourself, in other to better connect with others, read the post Connecting with yourself in order to better connect with others: the How To;
- Why ‘Connecting the D(ots)’? if you are curious about the title of this site.