Community Beyond Zip Code
By: Liz Laux
When many think of the word “community” the first thing that comes to mind is location. The community where your house is, the community you grew up in, the community you went to college in. Where all of these are true, as you grow up, community removes itself from being a static space and into what becomes your source of friendship, support and family wherever you may be.
I spent the first three years post Hillsdale traveling to different cities and teams pursuing my dream of working in the NFL. Although I graduated in 2019, it took me until 2021 to final settle into my first full-time job after interning for different teams for two years. During these few years, it quickly became difficult to have consistent friendships and community in my life. The friendships I had in Hillsdale that were easily maintained by just planning to eat lunch together in the cafeteria or meeting up in AJs to study were now separated by miles, states and zip codes. Now we need to collaborate on schedules to coordinate a weekend that may match up to get dinner or even a visit. Needless to say, some of my best friends and relationships became one of the most difficult aspects in my life to maintain. Loneliness seemed to be a problem that I faced, along with many other post-grads as I navigated the space between leaving college and my career. However, I learned that in order to have true quality of life, community and friendship are just as important as the goals I was pursuing, and frankly helped me pursue my goals further.
Everyone has the same amount of time in a day, in a week, in a year. I had to learn the art of balance and using time wisely in order to continue to pursue my goals while also creating a community in my life to be my home wherever I may be in the world. Here are a few ways that I rooted myself into communities while being unrooted geographically:
1.Facetime, calls, texts and social media
Although technology gets a bad rep sometimes, it is extremely helpful in keeping people connected. I intentionally use the time I have in my car driving to and from work to talk with friends and family members and catch up. Facetime is also a great tool because you can actually be “face to face” with someone that is far away.
2.Having friends from work is normal.
Due to my busy schedule, I don’t have a ton of time to make friends outside of the office. Many of my friends that I have met post-college are individuals I work with. However, these can be the best friendships to have. You have the same schedule as them, share common goals and tend to have the same mindset on life.
Wherever someone is in life, creating a community is a core aspect of a fruitful life. Even if it does not look like a “normal” way to create and maintain friendships, having people around you to support, love and enjoy life with you is all matters.
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