![\"\"](\"https:\/\/annunciationdesigns.com\/wp59\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/RJS7128-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My husband and I have been married somewhere between six and seven years.\u00a0 We met in college, with all its built in friendships.\u00a0 We each moved twice between college and our wedding, and then we moved again soon after.\u00a0 We found a parish we loved and made friends, but these friends happened to be of grandparent age.\u00a0 The rural parish had a distinct lack of young families.<\/p>\n
Finally, two years ago we moved twice within three months and found ourselves completely without friends.\u00a0 As two introverts, this can sometimes feel like living the dream!\u00a0 But we realized that we needed people in our community.\u00a0 We needed friends with children who understand our life.\u00a0 We needed friends to push us to become better people.\u00a0 We needed community.<\/p>\n
I’m a stay at home mom.\u00a0 I run a business and teach online.\u00a0 My days are full.\u00a0 But I looked for opportunities to find friends.\u00a0 I went to a nearby parish for a ‘moms and tots’ play date.\u00a0 It was hard for me, introducing myself to a room full of strangers, making small talk, keeping my son from drinking too much fruit juice… I didn’t make any connections that day and I didn’t have the energy to return.<\/p>\n
I kept looking for community.<\/p>\n
A few months later, over a year ago, I saw an invite in a Catholic women’s group online.\u00a0 A homeschool mom about an hour from me was having anyone and everyone over.\u00a0 I packed us up and off we drove.\u00a0 The day was again hard on me, I felt like hiding from the minute I arrived.\u00a0 But another mom showed up who didn’t know anyone else.\u00a0 She actually lived quite close to me.\u00a0 Her son is the same age as my son.\u00a0 This seemed promising!<\/p>\n
I messaged her about meeting up, and we had a little playdate at the library.\u00a0 It was awkward for me, but she seemed nice! We didn’t talk again for a few months.\u00a0 And then, this same friend announced that she wanted to start a women’s study group!\u00a0 I felt more confident joining because I’d met the organizer, and off we went.\u00a0 Last summer we started meeting up.\u00a0 Finally, I had found the group of my dreams!\u00a0 These women cut through the small talk.\u00a0 They bared their souls and we prayed and laughed and cried together.\u00a0 We have continued to meet for the past year, inviting new friends in and growing together.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/annunciationdesigns.com\/wp59\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/RJS7172-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
And so, with this experience in mind, I have three suggestions for introverts searching for community:<\/strong><\/p>\n You don’t have to be talkative, you don’t have to really enjoy it.\u00a0 You can’t be friends with people you’ve never met.\u00a0 Go.<\/p>\n Many introverts take their time opening up to others.\u00a0 It’s ok not to connect with one group of women.\u00a0 Give it a try or two and then find another group.<\/p>\n Making friends requires vulnerability.\u00a0 Acquaintances can just chat about the surface, but friends dive deep. If you want to be a friend, be willing to go deep.\u00a0 Community is based on mutual need – needing each other.<\/p>\n Community is almost foreign to us today.\u00a0\u00a0 Asking others for help is seen as weakness.\u00a0 Borrowing a lawn mower because yours happens to be broken doesn’t even enter our minds.\u00a0 We can’t have community without vulnerability and the willingness to look outside ourselves.\u00a0 Sometimes we’ll uphold others.\u00a0 Sometimes we’ll lean on them.\u00a0 It’s this give and take that forms a community.\u00a0 It’s the meals when someone’s sick, it’s the prayers during that medical test, it’s the texts asking for recommendations of doctors, restaurants, and parks.\u00a0 It’s knowing that someone else cares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My husband and I have been married somewhere between six and seven years.\u00a0 We met in college, with all its built in friendships.\u00a0 We each moved twice between college and our wedding, and then we moved again soon after.\u00a0 We found a parish we loved and made friends, but these friends happened to be of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n1. Just go.<\/h2>\n
2. Give it time.<\/h2>\n
3. Be vulnerable.<\/h2>\n