Third Spaces: Find a Second (or Third) Home Without the Mortgage

If you've never heard of third spaces, prepare to learn something life-changing and heartwarming. Have you ever found a place that feels like a home away from home? Maybe it's a neighborhood coffee shop that smells like coffee beans and has perfectly sized tables for you to sit down at and work on the weekends. Or maybe it's a book store you spend a half an hour in, just slowly milling around and reading the sleeves. Maybe it's the gym you go to before or after work.

A third space is anywhere you can build a community outside of your own home. In the world of "spaces", we have three (so far):

1. First spaces

   These are your home - the walls you live in and sleep in. This could be a shared apartment with 5 people, your parents house, a stand-alone home with a backyard and a dog - wherever you go "home" to.

2. Second spaces

   Where do you spend the most time outside of your home day-to-day? This might be a work office, it could be school - somewhere you spend a significant amount of time daily outside of your home. For some people, a second space doesn't quite exist - for people who work from home, maybe you've made one in your own home.

3. Third spaces

   Here is where things get cool. Third spaces are places outside of your home, office, school, etc where you can be. To become a third space, it requires you spending some time there - more than just one drive-by. Think of your favorite coffee shop in your neighborhood. That might be a third space for you. It could be a jazz bar around the corner, or a book store where you spend time reading book sleeves.

So - a bit more on third spaces. They. are. great. Similar to the way books, music, or movies act as a place of escape or expression, third spaces are a sometimes hidden tool you can use to build a community, feel more like yourself, and take a breather.

Some of my favorite third spaces are a coffee shop in my city with outdoor seating (and plenty of dogs) and three of my frequented book stores.

Do you have any third spaces? How does it make you feel when you're there?