Building Community Where You Are

I bet you've heard that old saying that 'when a student is ready, the teacher will appear' - and I think the same can be said for creating community and finding your tribe. In my previous post, I knew I found my ICF folks because of a simple shared preference for the luxury of the handwritten (and love of sensual stationery) over the impersonal efficiency of technology. But if shared pleasure can create community, so too can shared pain point out your peeps. I had that experience at a conference I attended in Austin a couple of months ago. I love my work at the University, but since I don't support students directly, I am a bit out-of-step with the organizational ethos. My area may seem a bit like mission drift, although I find the work meaningful and feel valued.
But I didn't realize how isolated I felt until I found myself surrounded by people who do exactly what I do at other Universities - and who felt the same exact pain I felt! It was liberating to hear my frustrations and complaints come out of someone else's mouth for a change. I was expecting to learn at the CMED conference, but I wasn't expecting to feel so understood. But the real reason that this was such a gift wasn't that we all faced the same problems - but that we shared our solutions. Although our common ground were the challenges, the experience was one of offering assistance and working together. We formed an inclusive community based on the idea of collective success, rather than shared struggles.