Man is a social animal and we all know it. The sense of belongingness is an intense need for most of the normal human beings. We build a family, a community and a society so that we belong to it. There has to be a system to which we become a part of . We can say we enjoy solitude or love being left alone, but some where we all want that for only a little time. More often than not there is a craze when we know that we must belong to something, an ideology, a group or may be a single person !

There might be many are reasons behind this . Being part of a community or the sense of belongingness gives us a feeling of security and may be makes us feel a little less anxious, sometimes it acts like the propellers that makes the ship go forward supplying you with the energy, the zeal to go forge the way ahead. This safe cover of a community also sometimes behaves as a umbrella that might protect us from the unexpected adversities and motivates us to keep going. On a professional level, we want to belong to the bracket of achievers all the time. We look at our peers doing well and somewhere want to reach where they are right now in life. May be we want to belong to the popularly defined “space of success” without actually knowing what they are lacking within. Becoming envious might be a byproduct of many, but I think it all starts with the craze to belong !

On a personal level too we need this security, no one likes to go back to an empty room after a grueling day at work, no one wants to be alone on their birthdays , no one wants to be left alone in a life journey. We all need that pat on our back when we accomplish something, a hug from a dear one to let you know that it is okay and everything will be alright, a smile that reciprocates our own happiness to make us believe that we did something good. The sense of belongingness is what truly makes us feel alive because unless sometimes we as human beings need to share our emotions.

So, choosing a community and belonging to it is normal but can it also become erroneous ? Yes, certainly! It all depends on what community one has affiliation to. Currently, we find there is increasing trend to incite hate, to troll and it has started to be done in an organized manner and on a very broad spectrum. Earlier, there used to be debates based on facts . Now a days it is disheartening to see that people choose a community first and then the job becomes simple. When you do not have facts to support your argument, just make a statement which incites hate or evokes extreme emotions and then you get celebrated by your community member! Cracking jokes on a lighter note is always welcome, but some people go to such extremes that they even forget what they are fighting for. Sometimes , the easiest is to go against the trend for seeking faster attention. Every such attempt is to just to remain intact in that community.

Hence ,the onus lies on us. To choose the right community, to choose the right vibe and to choose the right energy which will help us evolve. It only sounds easy. We all learn what is right only after doing wrong and that is a part of living too, I guess. But as long as we are ready to amend our thoughts , we will sail through. Taking a step back and seeing the whole scenario helps too. In these kind of situations, it is better to disassociate from the group and realign the priorities. It might be an important phase to introspect and understand our own self at times.

Mostly , the toughest task is to have a work life balance and the degree of belonging to each side can be very challenging. I personally believe that there is no mantra to achieve perfection as it can vary from person to person. However , no dream or goal makes sense which drives you far , very far away from your own people ! When you just want to belong to the moment of fame or the highpoint, it might seem fascinating. But by the time , the downfall starts as is the cyclic nature of life, no one would belong to you and the pitch dark moments of loneliness can be very tough to handle. May we be able to chose our own spheres of community filled with people who not only enrich us with their thoughts, ideologies but in the process help us become better human beings both intellectually & emotionally.

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.’ 

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Chinmayee