Prompt: Write about choosing your community.
The prompt for today, July 28th, 2026, is: Write about choosing your community.
I guess this is an interesting one because I think, ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to belong to a group, and that was very difficult for me.
Not least because I probably just didn’t accept that I was accepted. That’s most likely what it was. Maybe I wasn’t accepted, and I felt it acutely. But I wasn’t comfortable enough with myself to not care, or comfortable enough with myself to hang out with the people by whom I was accepted. I wanted to be with the “cool kids.”
As I’ve grown older, though, and as I’ve matured and started to like myself more, I think I’ve come to realize that I want my community to be fairly small.
I used to think it was really funny when we lived downtown. We lived in an apartment never more than twenty feet away from somebody else through the walls, the ceilings, and the floors, but we didn’t know any of our neighbours. We didn’t talk to anybody in the elevator. Nobody said hi. We just occupied the same space because we had to. We were forced to.
Here, however, in this new community of ours, we know the neighbours. They’re outside all the time, and we chat. Actually, on our way back from swimming today, we ended up chatting for almost half an hour with the neighbours. Then more neighbours came out, and more neighbours came through, and there was a lot of chatting.
It’s interesting because I guess we all have young children, so that brings us together. Then sometimes the conversation moves beyond the kids and into other things. As soon as we walked in, the first thing I said to Hannah was, “Wow, that was a lot of chatting.”
It’s interesting because we are accepted into this community. We do belong to this community. We are participating in this community. And my first reaction after it’s over is, “Whew, that was enough.”
I do actively participate, or at least I try to, when others are around. I think there’s something to be said for that because I never want people to feel left out. I once felt left out, and I didn’t like that feeling. I want everybody to have a place to land.
Because there’s something interesting about everybody.
It’s just a matter of finding it, and it’s not always easy. I don’t like a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something interesting about them. Even if all you do is learn through… what’s the word? Deduction? Where you remove things? You learn something interesting because you don’t like something. So maybe there’s that. I don’t know.
But I guess, in terms of choosing my community, I think I like it small. I don’t want a large group of friends. I can’t even keep up with the friends that I have.
Yeah, I guess that’s it.
You can find this prompt, and more, at Letters’ Lounge, letterslounge.com. Of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one, or any of the others, so please join the community and leave a comment or a link to your blog or audio journal. I’ll be sure to check it out.
We’ll build a community.
I guess I do want this to be a community, don’t I? A community on the internet.
Open to everybody.
That’s not a small community at all.
Right on. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, folks.
This transcript was lightly cleaned up with the help of AI to improve readability while preserving the original voice and intent of the recording.
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