I have been thinking about "community" a lot recently. I have been going to a lot of events by myself and meeting new people. My social anxiety used to be a lot worse. I didn't realise how much it was taking away from my life until I overcame it. I am still scared of people and of being ridiculed but it doesn't consume my brain space the way it did before.
I can say now, with great certainty: I like people. I have been feeling a great deal of affection towards strangers as of late. Things that used to piss me off have started to make me feel fond in a way that is hard to articulate. People are just so silly and so endearingly bizarre.