My Third Place

I’ve read about third places over the years but I’ve never really had a place that I considered a third place. If you’re not familiar with what third places are here’s the Wikipedia article on it. There’s a ton of other articles about them but in a nutshell a third place is a place one goes to socialize with others. Something like a barber/beauty shop, a bookstore, etc. Think Central Perk on the sitcom Friends as a great example or Monk’s Cafe from Seinfeld. I should probably mention first and second places. First places would be your home and second place would be your work/job.

In the digital age it’s hard (for me) to find a Third Place. Around me it’s mostly bars and Starbucks. I’m not knocking bars or Starbucks but I’ve cut my alcohol consumption down to almost zero simply because I find that I feel better without it. I also have social anxiety which makes going out to new places (and old/familiar places) difficult. I’m working on it and I think I’m getting better at putting myself in uncomfortable situations. I’m writing this from my local Starbucks and it’s absolutely packed. My anxiety is pretty high but I have my AirPods in and I’m working on this post so everyone is just kind of background noise.

I would love to find a hobby that met somewhere that I could regularly get to. There’s a local run club that meets multiple times a week and I am getting back into running so that’s an option I’m looking at. But that means I’ll have to run which I’m not great at.

I want a Central Perk type environment. I know that only exists on tv but it seems like it’s such a great place. I’m going to continue my search for my Third Place because I think it’s a beneficial endeavor.