The fitness chain Equinox famously billed itself as being the third space – a place that was neither home nor work. Not to bash Equinox, which is a lovely gym, but I think they miss the point of the third space: a third space is not just where we put on headphones and zone out in a fitness routine, it is about the needed connection to other people. Remember bowling? Was it really about rolling a ball down a lane to knock some pins over, or was it about building connection with others? In this week’s podcast, I spoke with the brilliant and rarely incorrect futurist Faith Popcorn on the future of aging. At one point in the conversation, she tells me that supermarkets are going extinct and that everything will be ordered online and efficiently delivered to us. I pushed back saying I greatly enjoyed my time at the supermarket, and that I always go with the checkout human vs the self checkout, as it gives me an opportunity to chat with my regular person there. Perhaps that will be the definition of luxury in the future, who knows.
Covid accelerated an ongoing trend in cocooning and, although it may have been necessary at that time, we need to push out into the world, and this requires effort. I currently reside in a smallish mountain town, and have noticed that there are two kinds of people. There are those who seem to expect community to come to them, and those that get out and join others. The second group seems happier. The gym I belong to here is wonderful, not as slick as Equinox, but is the first so-called “health club” that actually feels like a club. It was the portal through which all my initial social contacts were made here. If I say hi, how are you, nice to see you, the person will respond knowing my name and asking about my life. If I were to do that at an Equinox, again no shade on them, I would probably be accused of harassment; just a very different culture and different set of expected behaviors.
This is the last week of my Masters Ski Racing Program. It has been an amazing experience for so many reasons. I ski much better and faster, which is expected, but my community here has easily doubled. The coaches and my fellow racers have now become part of my world. We don’t know all that much about each other, but enough to care and to ask how one is doing. They may not become my close friends, but that is not the point; by letting me into their world they expand mine. This is an actual third space. I get it that this sort of activity is not everyone’s jam, but there are others: the local farmers’ market and getting to know your farmer, be a regular at a restaurant and every Thursday go there, join a group that is based around an activity or a cause, help out at the local school.
There is value in expanding our world, beyond just family and a couple of friends. As Professor Andrew Scott, economist from Oxford, made clear in ourrecent SuperAge podcast, there are non-monetary asset classes, one of which is the transformational benefit of expanding our world and the number of people in it. There is a very good chance that we are going to be alive for a considerable time and, if we take that view, then the value of making these human investments becomes clearer. We are never static; we get to choose if our world is expanding or contracting. It has taken me a few decades to understand that.
Onward and upward,
David
