Finding the Third Place
Are your places dwindling in the age of technology?
In a world where digital convenience often replaces genuine connection, our “third places” — the spaces between home and work that once grounded us — are disappearing. In my latest essay, I explore what that loss means for our collective well-being and how I found reconnection in an unexpected place: the powerlifting gym.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how our sense of belonging is changing. The pandemic, technology, and the pace of modern life have all reshaped the spaces where we gather, share, and simply be together.
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg called these in-between spaces “third places” — the cafés, gyms, libraries, and community centers that live between home and work.
But what happens when those spaces start to vanish? When connection is replaced by convenience, and community gets compressed into a screen?
In my latest essay, Finding the Third Place, I explore how our digital lives have quietly altered the rhythms of real connection — and how, in the most unexpected of places, we can still find it. For me, that rediscovery came in the form of a barbell and a gym community that became something much bigger than fitness: a new “third place.”
💡 “The opposite of isolation isn’t just company — it’s connection.”
👉 Read the full story on Medium: Finding the Third Place
💬 I’d love to hear from you:
Where do you find your “third place” — the spaces where you feel most human, connected, or at peace?