{"id":1518,"date":"2025-05-27T21:14:43","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T21:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2025-05-27T21:14:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T21:14:44","slug":"community-building-what-do-you-love-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This post is the <strong>third part<\/strong> in a series on Community Building. Here are <a href=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-skills-list\/\">Part 1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-crowdsource-your-skills-list\/\">Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve gone through the first two parts of this series wherein you create a list of your skills, by yourself and also by asking those around you, it is now time to ask yourself, \u201c<strong>What do I love doing?<\/strong>\u201d \u201cLove\u201d here can mean what brings you joy, what heals you, what makes you feel rested, what nourishes you? What brings you to yourself? What makes you smile with kind warmth to yourself? What brings you passion when you do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we discussed in the first two parts, <em>everyone<\/em> is good at something. \u201cGood\u201d here not in the sense of what dominant culture tells you is a good at, but what you find yourself good at in the world <em>you<\/em> navigate. This idea of \u201cgood\u201d is different in different communities, cultures, times, and contexts. We love this fluidity and connectedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the backwards world we are in, <strong>it is often that we discover what we are good at that is worth something to capitalism <\/strong><em><strong>before<\/strong><\/em><strong> we understand what we love doing on our own<\/strong>. This is because we are incessantly pushed to accomplish tasks that generate capital, regardless of our preferences, likes, and loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because of racist ableist capitalism, <strong>we are told to love the job that brings us money, <\/strong>the one that leads to \u201csuccess\u201d standards on capitalist colonialism\u2019s path. We are told that what we are good at <em>is<\/em> the thing that earns money. Money <em>is<\/em> the reward, thus it follows that must be what you love. In this way, <strong>colonialism strips us of so many opportunities<\/strong> to be in touch with and check in about what we love, and to explore what we could be good at on our <em>own<\/em> life paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are told that what we love doing on our <em>own<\/em> path should be more of a hobby and side activity. Meanwhile, what you are doing on capitalist colonialism\u2019s path is what you should do <em>and<\/em> what you should love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In capitalist colonialism, if you are lucky, or if you did immense self work to get to that place in life, what you do <em>can<\/em> align with what you love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us examine a few examples of the varying relationships between <em>loving<\/em> what you do and having a <em>skill<\/em> for it. We have four people:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who <em>loves<\/em> cooking.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who <em>loves<\/em> skiing.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who is <em>skilled<\/em> at maths.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who is <em>skilled<\/em> at drawing circles.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Under capitalist colonialism, the first two may be told to cook or ski in their free time. The third and fourth might be incentivized and told to pursue those skills to earn an income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now let us release some of the capitalist colonial pressure and think about the outcome from a liberatory mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who <em>loves<\/em> singing may find themselves getting good at it because they want to sing more, practice, learn, and dive deeper into the practice. <\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who <em>loves<\/em> skiing may find that they cannot become a professional skier as much as they practice, but they love skiing nevertheless, regardless of the \u201clevel\u201d of skiing.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who is <em>skilled<\/em> at maths, may find themselves loving it because they have clarity into how things come together in our world. <\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>A person who is <em>skilled<\/em> in drawing circles may find that it strains their hand and arm, so they don\u2019t love it.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In a liberatory world, we have more options, we have more freedom, and we are more likely to be skilled at what we love<\/strong> rather than be forced to love what we are skilled at. There is no expectation that we must produce deliverables because we are <em>skilled<\/em> at something, nor is there an expectation that we must produce deliverables because we <em>love<\/em> doing something. <strong>You get to choose your process and outcome<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So for this mindful exercise, with your first list of what you are good at or skilled at beside you, now <strong>think about and make a list of things you love doing<\/strong>. Do you love hanging out with friends? Lying down somewhere in the sunshine? Listening to birds? Making collages? Writing stories? Folding paper? Speaking with new people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though your first list is there for you to contemplate, it should and will not necessarily plot to your list of things you love doing. Some of you may find that your list of skills is similar to your list of loves. Some of you may find that they are entirely different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let your love list lead you here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When we give ourselves the space to contemplate what we love doing, we then begin to expand our hearts and minds to the possibility of anything<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post is the third part in a series on Community Building. Here are Part 1 and Part 2. Once you\u2019ve gone through the first&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Community Building: What Do You Love Doing?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":null,"activitypub_content_visibility":"quiet_public","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[340],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-building","tag-community-building","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Community Building: What Do You Love Doing? - YK Hong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing? - YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post is the third part in a series on Community Building. Here are Part 1 and Part 2. Once you\u2019ve gone through the first&#8230;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T21:14:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T21:14:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"YK Hong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"YK Hong\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59\"},\"headline\":\"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T21:14:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-27T21:14:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"keywords\":[\"community building\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community Building\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/\",\"name\":\"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing? - YK Hong\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T21:14:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-27T21:14:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/\",\"name\":\"YK Hong\",\"description\":\"Anti-Oppression + Tech Justice\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59\",\"name\":\"YK Hong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"YK Hong\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/author\\\/blog\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing? - YK Hong","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing? - YK Hong","og_description":"This post is the third part in a series on Community Building. Here are Part 1 and Part 2. Once you\u2019ve gone through the first&#8230;","og_url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/","og_site_name":"YK Hong","article_published_time":"2025-05-27T21:14:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-27T21:14:44+00:00","author":"YK Hong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"YK Hong","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/"},"author":{"name":"YK Hong","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#\/schema\/person\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59"},"headline":"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing?","datePublished":"2025-05-27T21:14:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-27T21:14:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/"},"wordCount":677,"keywords":["community building"],"articleSection":["Community Building"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/","url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/","name":"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing? - YK Hong","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-05-27T21:14:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-27T21:14:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#\/schema\/person\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/community-building-what-do-you-love-doing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community Building: What Do You Love Doing?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/","name":"YK Hong","description":"Anti-Oppression + Tech Justice","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#\/schema\/person\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59","name":"YK Hong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"YK Hong"},"url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/author\/blog\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1519,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}