Community Living

This year, 2017, was the year when I definitely decided to take a path of my own, and deviate from the plan that was laid out for me by society. I call it the year of experimentation, because in 2017 I took two big and important decisions for myself.

One: Me and my girlfriend moved in a house together with 7 other friends (baby included), so that we learn how to live as a community.

Two: I decided to give more energy to my personal projects like trainings and facilitating in non-formal education, writing and just enjoying life in general, and because of this I started working part-time.

In this article I write shortly about community living, and about how things are so far down the road.

                                       Night fire in our back yard garden, while celebrating the birthday of Maria. (House member)
Decision

I vividly remember how, before moving in the house, we were asking ourselves "Do we really want this? Do we want to give up personal comfort and personal space to live with others? What if it will not work, what if we won't get along together? What if..?".

The "What if" mentality can help, but in this case there was no easy choice. There was no way to see the future, only some possibilities. And so we decided to take the leap. The leap of faith.

I had a very interesting dream that night of a giant serpent that was shedding of its skin, and I understood that It was time for me, as it was the case of the snake, to shed of my old way of being and move on. And so I did.


We left our cozy apartment, our comfort zone, our life in two, for something bigger but yet unknown and risky.


Present 

We now live with these wonderful people, in a rented house. Were we have a beautiful garden from which we get to eat fresh vegetables, and in which we sometimes stay up until late night gathered around the fire (or candles, because it's hard to get firewood in the city) and talk about life.

The community dynamics are especially interesting, because each of us has its own needs that must be meet, we all have different jobs, from engineering to psychology, freelancing, trainers and facilitators and working from home. But all in all, it works. We can have the privacy when we need it, and we can also have companionship when we seek it.

Living in a community also means sharing. We learn to share our belongings and our food, but we also learn how to share our knowledge, and in this way we learn to live more efficiently. We all have our input to the group, and we all benefit because of it.

The house and the garden demands responsibility from the group, and it's definitely easier to maintain them for a group, than let's say a couple or a family. We share responsibilities, and it's easier this way. We learn that shared responsibility is important, we all have our roles to play, and such is in a healthy family, group or even society for that matter.

Of course that we also encounter obstacles. Like that one time when a group member decided to move from the house, and we had to find someone else suitable and wanting to live with us. Or other times when we had disagreements with the house owners who live on the same street as us (that is one city closer than we would want them to live). But the important thing is that we learn how to overcome obstacles, as a group, and so we become stronger.

Almost 4 months have passed since we have moved together, and there are still a great deal of things that we need to learn and experience as a group, but at least I know now how I want to live my life, and that is in a community of people were we support and learn from each other.