<story><title>Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?</title><text>Asking for myself and those who are looking for what good communities often provide: feeling of connection, purpose, a place to go, etc.</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>donnfelker</author><text>A fitness community.
This could be either a BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) place or even a CrossFit gym. I&amp;#x27;ve done both and while I&amp;#x27;m not here to promote CrossFit, I am here to say that a group fitness class is awesome for meeting other people and finding a community of people that do something similar as you, but have absolutely nothing to do with your work.&lt;p&gt;I workout with Police officers, Lawyers, Doctors, Dentists, Stay at home moms, Accountants, Students, other tech folks, etc, you name it they&amp;#x27;re all there.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s something about &amp;quot;shared misery&amp;quot; that brings people together and builds a comrade. That turns into a community where you start to hang out with them out of the gym&amp;#x2F;etc.&lt;p&gt;This happens at any group fitness place where the same people show up at the same time to do the same thing. It&amp;#x27;s natural, organic and freeing.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve moved across the country 3 times now and this is how I integrated into each area I moved into.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>juujian</author><text>Yup. I joined a climbing gym. Hanging out with a lot of people both older and younger than you is refreshing. Not much shared misery though when it comes to climbing, always had a blast.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?</title><text>Asking for myself and those who are looking for what good communities often provide: feeling of connection, purpose, a place to go, etc.</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>donnfelker</author><text>A fitness community.
This could be either a BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) place or even a CrossFit gym. I&amp;#x27;ve done both and while I&amp;#x27;m not here to promote CrossFit, I am here to say that a group fitness class is awesome for meeting other people and finding a community of people that do something similar as you, but have absolutely nothing to do with your work.&lt;p&gt;I workout with Police officers, Lawyers, Doctors, Dentists, Stay at home moms, Accountants, Students, other tech folks, etc, you name it they&amp;#x27;re all there.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s something about &amp;quot;shared misery&amp;quot; that brings people together and builds a comrade. That turns into a community where you start to hang out with them out of the gym&amp;#x2F;etc.&lt;p&gt;This happens at any group fitness place where the same people show up at the same time to do the same thing. It&amp;#x27;s natural, organic and freeing.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve moved across the country 3 times now and this is how I integrated into each area I moved into.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tsumnia</author><text>&amp;gt; There&amp;#x27;s something about &amp;quot;shared misery&amp;quot; that brings people together and builds a comrade. That turns into a community where you start to hang out with them out of the gym&amp;#x2F;etc.&lt;p&gt;Agreed; my outside work community IS my martial arts community. There are the brief moments while waiting that you end up chatting with your partners. Eventually you learn what they do, if they have kids, etc. and since you see them weekly you often times get to share their experiences. When I was in college, it was pretty regular to ask the other people what they were up to that weekend. Next thing you know, you&amp;#x27;re grabbing food, going out for beers, seeing Marvel movies (personal experience there), or other things.&lt;p&gt;The shared misery scares people away, but you end up becoming invested in your partners&amp;#x27; progress as well. When new students join you also get to serve as a peer mentor because just 6 months ago YOU were in their shoes.&lt;p&gt;As a counter argument I recently heard, some people dislike the hierarchal structure of martial arts. I can understand, but at least from my experience I enjoy it.</text></comment>