I Don’t Want a Walking Group, I Want a Syllabus
By Sarah Bluett
Somewhere between the lockdown and now, “community” has become synonymous with walking groups, coffee tours, and Pilates. What if you’re struggling with your mental health during the cold winter and in the midst of recovering from back surgery, like me? In the last two months, I felt more isolated than ever. YouTube videos and my corgi have become my emotional support. So what’s the answer?
The answer I’m going to offer may feel a bit pandemic-era, but I love Zoom, especially for workshops. Why? Because it’s structured, there’s a clear start and end, and someone else is facilitating the meeting. At the beginning of 2026, I joined a six-week course through the Poetry Field School with the intention of working on writing fiction. Instead, I was thrown headfirst into a poetry group because of class overflow. It ended up being the best thing to happen to me.
I worked on my craft during the allotted time, but I was also introduced to people from all over the world. It was the kickstart I needed. I learned that you can use your time as an opportunity to learn through a shared interest, with a workshop syllabus, instead of feeling pressure to be social. Why are we going back to school? But listen to me. For anyone with social anxiety, the idea of structured time to connect without forced intimacy or overcommitment is hard to come by. Structured time helps form connections. And sometimes, money, chronic pain, or other unseen factors can be barriers to more traditional forms of social life.
I decided to take this online community idea a step further. So I challenged myself. What if I create my own syllabus and plan a workshop?
I hosted my first-ever literary salon this past Friday on Valentine’s Eve called Love Bites: Vampires, Bitter Betrayals, and Candlelight. And I’m so glad I did it despite feeling so out of my comfort zone.
Here’s what I learned:
1) Structure encourages safety
New social environments are often unpredictable. While it’s good to hang out with a new group of people or invite a coworker to happy hour, they can be draining, especially during the winter or a depressive episode. I’ve been there myself these last few months!
So I turned to writing and an online community, and the structure made me feel safe. The six weeks of the workshop felt like an internal check-in where I could actually feel how I was doing. Whereas the outside world felt scary and asking things of me I couldn’t give at the time, my weekly Sunday poetry workshop left me feeling seen and excited. So, despite my fears of hosting a workshop, I still did it because I knew there would be other people out there searching for something similar.
2) Intention is felt
On many levels, I craved more opportunities to talk about the media I was consuming. I needed more! And so, I put together a description for the event, created a graphic to use on social media, and then I let my creative juices flow. I had a vision for the evening, and I created a tablescape with rose petals, dripping candles, and ruby-colored candies. I wanted them to be immersed in the world I was creating. And from what they shared at the end, mission accomplished.
3) Small rooms are powerful
Nine people signed up. Three showed up. I wanted to cancel!
But I didn’t.
We were fifteen minutes into the meeting, and only one person had joined. I sheepishly started after talking for a while, and finally, two other people joined. I’m so glad I didn’t cancel because the space shared between the four of us was very restorative.
Maybe the thing we’re craving isn’t another event, but something with intention and a space where we can be honest and feel held – wherever we are in our lives. I don’t want a walking group. I want a syllabus.
If you’re interested, here’s the link to my version of a syllabus with media recommendations, prompts from the workshop, and a Pinterest moodboard. Take inspiration from me, and build your own.
