The trust comes first
A retrospective on villages
2025 was my year of the village (If you're not familiar with annual themes, check out this video for context before proceeding).
The overarching idea was to spend my time building and participating in what I call the mythological 'village'; that community, support, and network that every millennial complains about wanting and not having.
It grew from an interest in decentralized, human-scale networks (you can read the full original post here), and the biggest thing I learned is that real community is built on trust. So, how does one build villages? I found that there are 3 broad principles at work, that, when understood and observed, will help you:
Social capital.
To build trust, you often have to give more than you get. You have to show up when people need you to, not just when you want to, in the way they need you to. This can be highly inconvenient.