Life with Chronic Conditions: The Importance of Third Places

If you’ve wondered why no posts for almost all of July, it’s because my town in Vermont was heavily impacted by flooding and I was very involved in the relief efforts. It feels good to be out of the muck of basements and to be able to sit at my computer and not thinking, “I should be doing something other than what I’m actually doing.”

 During one of my many trips around town, I happened to hear bits of a program on “third places,” and their importance. Coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in the 1980s, third place is a physical location, other than work or home, with little to no financial barrier and conversation is the primary activity. Oldenburg argued that third places were necessary for public wellbeing. “What suburbia cries for are the means for people to gather easily, inexpensively, regularly, and pleasurably. A ‘place on the corner,’ real life alternatives to television, easy escapes from the cabin fever of marriage and family life that do not necessitate getting into an automobile.”

 

One of the best examples of third place comes from the hit TV Cheers, whose theme song sums it up:

Makin' your way in the world today

takes everything you've got.

Takin' a break from all your worries

sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away? 

 

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name

 

While Covid seemed to rob us of our third places, it’s important that in our post Covid world we reestablish them. For those affected by chronic conditions, these are very important places as they reduce isolation, provide healing-yes green space is very healing-and a welcome change from day to day routines. 

 

Humans are social beings, so it be virtually or in person, we need connectiveness. Support groups are great, but it’s also healthy to be part of something where your chronic condition is not front and center. 

 

Other Reading

• A Virtual World And A “Third Place” May Just Save Your Health 

• Why you need a third place (and how to find one)