Communities provide strength

by Junaid Ahmed | Oct 23, 2020 | Lifestyle, News

Human beings have been living in communities for centuries, from the very first gathering of people to support the common cause of providing food shelter and water as well as protection from foreign harm.

We’ve grown into diverse and focused communities that help us grow in ways we never imagined, with support from individuals and leadership who were able to accomplish tasks much bigger than all of us.

Communities come in different shapes and forms and even different words define them! The smallest unit consists of 3 people and it can also be called a family, group of friends, classmates, school, meet-ups, it can go on an on, with one of the larger ones called movements or a city and country, the human race.

For the past few years I’ve been part of many communities with out realising it’s affect on me and my behaviour.

When you work at a company or are looking to be part of one you’re essentially filling out an application to join a specific community. You tell them your experience, and they evaluate how you’ll behave and finally accept or reject you.

Then there’s social communities that you can come and go as you please depending on your level of involvement shows your commitment and support of others.

Communities are powerful but you have to be willing to give. Yes you have to give the community what you have the most precious and limited and that is time. It’s something that can never be replenished and the more you put of this time in a community the more quality connections you will make.

Here are some of the communities that have helped me grow into my own in the past decade.

Community of Technologists

Tech and hackers helped me to connect with other folks that were also building hackintosh computers using compatible hardware to be able to run MacOS, I joined this community back in 2005. I tinkered and went through hours of understanding the tech that enabled a successful build. I left the community when I bought myself a MacBook Pro 17”, although I continued to use a hackintosh machine well into 2017, when I could no longer keep up with the demands of a changing operating system.

Community of Inventors.

Over the past decade or around the time crowdfunding came to being, I’ve backed over 270 projects on the many platforms inventors go to such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other inventor communities. They’ve provided me with joy, disappointment, and unlimited grace. I can probably create a list of successful and unsuccessful projects but that’ll have to be another post. What I learned through them is any of the projects that I backed became it’s own community, around each project there’s anywhere from 10-6000 backers all rooting for the creator and the invention they created, it is absolutely fascinating to see these come to being and then ending as they finish with the delivery of the said product/service/software.

Community of Cyclists

I’ve been cycling as long as I can remember, I used to have a banana bike when I was in my youth, then upgraded to a BMX, then a mountain bike and unfortunately, each bike I owned was stolen at one point or another back in Saudi Arabia. When I moved to the US I wanted to get a bike but never really got around to it mainly because now I was driving a car. The main reason and purpose I used my bike for back in saudi was transportation, we didn’t wear a helmet and it was a great mode to get from one point to another, from my house to my friends house and then hang out.

Since 2013 I’ve own the same mountain bike and why a mountain bike? because I was consulted with a cyclist that was a mountain biker, if I had asked a road cyclist I would’ve been persuaded to get a road-bike. Suffice it to say I now own two bikes a mountain bike with swappable road and mountain wheels and a road bike for those long distance rides and physical fitness. In 2016 I caught the road cycling bug when I rode my first 40 miles on a road bike in New York for a cause where 30-40 thousand people showed up for the ride and it was raining! I continued to work at it and in 2017 I was able to ride over 1500 miles, the following few years didn’t amount to as much biking due to other activities, new baby and well other hobbies.

Community of Muslims

I was born a muslim, am a muslim and practice as regularly as possible, its enabled me to connect with other muslims and find similarities of passions. Of course it is such a broad community that it isn’t always possible to continue a conversation on that specific basis. We always need to find deeper connections that bind us in a much closer connection. This is a topic that will definitely need more research and well time to write about my involvement through islamic communities, studies and the pursuit to be a better muslim

Community of Leaders

This is definitely a new aspect that I’ve come to adore and grow into. See we all have leadership ingrained in us, we just have to dig deeper into the self and find what really triggers or gets our passions to flow. When we step up and take charge of a topic that we’re passionate about we appoint ourselves as leaders without knowing. I recently did this 4-5 months ago when I introduced Tech Talk Tuesdays to a Facebook group that I belong, and for the past 4 months, I’ve been going live in the group talking about technology from software, hardware, and even life in general. It’s enabled me to define my why and my story too.

Community of Filmmakers

I became a filmmaker or a videographer when we were first introduced to a video camcorder back when my dad got one as a gift. It used very specific tapes in it which recorded the image on to a magnetic tape rolled up in an 8mm tape. The rest is history and what gives me the passion to continually learn, implement and teach the techniques.

Community of Drivers

It was late 2013 Conan O Brien went on a ride in a Lyft Car! Along with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, the video was epic and I was IN! I wanted to be that Lyft car drive and it was probably something pulled together by the folks at Lyft in conjunction with Conans show. Regardless I was signed up and in January I got accepted to be a Lyft driver.

I drove my 2010 Infiniti G37x as the Lyft car and everyone was immediately impressed that this type of car can also be a Lyft ride. Through the Lyft Facebook group I was able to connect with fellow Lyft drivers and they really cultivated a family of like minded folks and drivers. I joined many social gathering events over the following months as I drove for Lyft and talked with other Lyft drivers through FB messenger groups and a Voice based walkie talkie app. Denver was a great place to drive. Since I moved to the east clary I’ve only managed to give maybe 30 rides total because of time spent on family. I still have an active standing as a Lyft drive and own the Fluffy Pink moustache that attached to the front of the car.

Community of Photographers

In 2013 another thing that I did was join a few meet-up groups that focused on teaching photography and go on weekends to choice spots and capture the world around us. I learned how to use prime lenses, composition, and DSLR cameras

Community of Beekeepers

Yup I got into beekeeping end of 2017, took a class in winter of 2018 and started beekeeping in Spring. What really inspired me to get into beekeeping? A few years ago my wife and I took our almost 2 year old to an allergist. We knew he had allergies so we wanted to be more certain around which allergies are affecting him. The doctor suggested local honey to remedy for seasonal allergies. This sparked an idea in my head to discover local honey and where we could find it. Then a friend of mine asked if he could borrow my camera to capture releasing a few bee hives for his small farm.

Community of Speakers

Community of Teachers

Community of Hobbyists

Community of Gadgeteers

Community of Podcasters

Community of Live Streamers

Community of Designers

Community of Developers

Community of Artists

Community of Writers

Community of Authors

Community of Builders

Community of Youtubers

The more I think about this the more communities emerge from my mind.

We’re always growing and each community helps us get to the next level, the next evolution, the next phase, the next chapter of our lives.

It’s fascinating and inspiring to see growth within us and in those around us, what’s really neat is when you get to be the one seeing through to the transformation of others.

To be continued…