If you want to belong, find a third place

Your neighborhood watering hole is more important than you think.

Meng Liu spent years ping-ponging around the world looking for community. It was her dream to live in New York City, but after she found it difficult to make friends, Liu moved to Los Angeles, where she faced similar social roadblocks. Loneliness followed her across the globe to Shanghai, where she again chased a sense of belonging that never came.

Thinking back on a comment a friend had made years ago, Liu had an epiphany.