9 Oct 2020

I saw a picture today on Facebook that said “If you find yourself having to tiptoe around others, you’re not walking amongst your tribe”.

It is true that surrounding yourself with people with the same views, morals, and humour as you, is the comfortable way to live life.

But I don’t think we need to hang out only with clones of ourselves. Our tribe will always consist of someone a little off centre, someone who enjoys different hobbies, someone who barracks for a different football team, someone who enjoys a different type of music.

I don’t think tribes are meant to be identical. Sure they have to have some similarity – whether it’s location, DNA, or some other common factor. But your tribe is a group of people you can be yourself with. People who accept who you are, and enjoy spending time in your company irregardless 🙂

Our indigenous people refer to these groupings as a mob, and many cultures throughout the world have other terminology. It doesn’t have to be a family group, although that’s often the basis.

Something I read defines a tribe as a grouping having common culture and dialect, characterised by compassion and authenticity.

Another writer set out ten easy steps to “find your tribe”!!! So if you are unsure of who your tribes are, I invite you to sort out the following:

1. Know who you are.

2. Know what you need.

3. Different tribes for different needs.

4. Be open to formal and informal relationships.

5. Introduce friends from different groups.

6. Frequent places you enjoy.

7. Align your energy with others like you.

8. Explore online groups.

9. Try new things that interest you.

10. Be open to global serendipity.

Well that’s pretty straight forward, isn’t it?

I’m glad about number ten, because I really believe in this coronavirus world, our tribe is quite a bit larger than we might have previously imagined. Our tribe is everyone who is worried or suffering in whatever way.

My tribe is fortunately full of people who aren’t like me too much. If I hung around with clones of me all the time we’d spend time drinking coffee, reading books on the couch, or taking photos of our grand children all the time. Hmmm hang on – that’s not such an entirely horrible thing, now I think about it.

I consider you a member of my tribe. I don’t think you can get out of this – sorry 🙂