Community is Inconvenient

But that's not a reason to avoid it.

The view from an “inconvenient” hike.

Taking care of my neighbor’s chickens while he’s on vacation. Inconvenient.

Getting up early on a Saturday to drive an hour to go on a hike with a friend. Inconvenient.

Taking time out of my work day to meet another friend for coffee on their lunch break. Inconvenient.

But I do it anyway.

Recently, at my yearly physical, during a screening question for depression they asked me if I thought I was a burden to family and friends. And my answer was “yes.” Of course. In some ways we are all burdens. We all have needs that are sometimes inconvenient to others, but that doesn’t take away my will to live. It doesn’t make me want to cease existing because I take up space and I recognize that other people take up space too.

I’m taking care of this tiny “burden” this summer.

I am sometimes a burden to my husband. I’m sometimes a burden to my friends and family. Sometimes I’m even a burden to my dog! Some days I can just tell she’s sick of my shit. But having a community is a burden. It’s often much easier to do things yourself. To go to work, to go home and to just take care of yourself. But that’s surviving. That’s not living. That’s not cultivating a full life. And not all burdens are bad. They’re just little inconveniences we carry with us.

There will come a day when you and I can no longer take care of ourselves. We will need help. We will be a true burden. A true heavy load to bear. But when that time comes I hope that we will have the community to support us because we were once “burdened” too.

I hope you’re inconvenienced by the burden of community this weekend, 😉

Melanie