Way back, before computers or cars or the invention of the nuclear family, families were large, extended and accessible during times of celebration, famine or during the day-to-day activities of life. In short, there were more people (and hands!) to help raise the kids, share histories and provide for everybody’s physical and emotional well-being.

Today, we are faced with a disconnect in our interpersonal relationships, especially after we launch from school and seek our fortune in the “real world” of commutes, dance lessons, and drive-thru dinners. In our first 20-ish years, we are surrounded by others who are there to help, educate, amuse, anger or otherwise enhance our lives, a far cry from the world of the 9-5 (or more!) worker, the SAHM or the person between those two extremes. What we may find is that the “real world” is a cold place. Where is the family, the feeling of belonging outside of our four walls?

Women have a natural tendency to rely on each other’s opinions and experiences, as a way to find our own way of doing things.  We bond during trips to the bathroom where we discuss each other, our dates, the music or a politician’s flub of the day. We can pick up the phone and chat with our best friend for hours. We can turn to our sister or mother for advice. Without that interaction, that feeling of “sisterhood,” our lives can feel shallow. We can feel alone.

When a mom is up at 4am because her newborn daughter is refusing to breastfeed, there are few places she can turn to receive support. The worlds available on the Internet, in the form of message boards or other interactive websites, can offer an environment of support and encouragement. If a 20-something just broke up with her boyfriend for the third time, she can go online and get a few virtual hugs or if a 9-5 mom just had the worst meeting ever, she can find online commiseration (on her lunch break, of course ) and maybe muster up enough strength to make it through the rest of the day. Its the feeling of community, the sense that there is a group of people “right there” that can mean the world to a woman who doesn’t have the time or energy to talk in person. It is this community that is vital to the “stay at home moms” and “work at home mom” who needs a sanity break while still in close proximity to the children driving her insane.

If the act of writing out feelings or thoughts is therapeutic, then being able to receive feedback and encouragement is priceless. Online communities provide both the opportunity to voice an opinion, vent, ask for advice or relay information. While online communities are not substitutes for real life interaction, they can fill a vital need in the lives of women who are too busy, too frustrated or too overwhelmed to seek out their own tribe of women.

It is in this spirit that I cordially invite you to the HippyMom Forum. A true evolution of female community.

~Tarot (Chelsea Eriksen), owner, HippyMom.com

Related posts:

1. Thoughts on Women
2. Join our Community!
3. Self Respecting=Self Value
4. Why you should drink the Electric Kool Aid at HippyMom

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