Day 358: Community

There's nothing quite like community. The beautiful feeling of being understood, accepted, and loved is one you cannot replace with any other feeling. This time of the year is most often the time where I join together with my community during the Promoting Passion Convention and because of everything going on this year it was canceled, so I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the years past.

Back in 2015, I attended my very first Promoting Passion Convention and while I don't remember it for a variety of reasons, it was one of the most beautiful and perfect periods in time. This convention, which is put on by the beautiful Brooke Shaden, was a new world to venture into. I was only fourteen at the time and stepping into the world of adults.

To say I was scared to take that first step is a total understatement. It was terrifying and I wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but I soon realized that this group of people . . . they were my family. In all of our differences and similarities a rag tag group of artists came together in the middle of nowhere for a weekend and was able to create a community of the most beautiful kind.

In those few days, I found the people I knew I wanted to have along side me for the rest of my life. I wasn't treated like a child, everyone took me under their wing and brought me into this world of creation and imagination. It really helped me through some really difficult things and the same can be said about every single year following that one.

PPC 2015 might have been the very first step, but it was quickly followed by PPC 2016, 2017, and 2018. Each year different and better than the last, meeting me where I was in my life and paving a way into a new chapter of my life. These conventions have just been some of my favorite moments in my life. All the people, the memories, the creations, everything about it is amazing. But the community is by far the thing that makes them special.

Community is a huge part of our lives whether we realize it or not. We thrive or suffer depending on the community we are part of. The people we surround ourselves with changes us and molds us into new humans, that is why it is so important to surround yourself with the best possible people, the ones that make your heart soar and your soul sing.

Where can you search for such a community in your life? I've been fortunate enough to find my way into this group, but I've also had many other opportunities to find community at other conventions, in other areas of my life and you can too. Find the people you connect with and wrap them around you. Community is one of the most important parts of life and we cannot live without it.

Until Next Time,

Lillian Merritt