When you start to really examine the various overlapping networks you are a part of each day, it's quite fascinating how intricately we are all woven together through these invisible threads of relationships and exchanges. As I set out to reflect on my own networks for this piece, I realized just how many different groups and communities I am embedded within on a daily basis.

Let me start with the most intimate circle - my family. This core kinship network is the foundational one that helped shape my values, habits, and worldview from a very young age. The exchanges within this network go far beyond just the physical and material - we are constantly sharing emotional support, guidance, laughs, linguistic accents and phrases unique to our family. Family chat groups and gatherings keep this network alive and fluid.

Branching out from there are my networks of friends from various life stages - childhood, high school, university, previous jobs. With these different friend groups, the exchanges are often in the currency of reminiscing about times gone by, but also updating each other on current lives, loves, jobs, milestones. The exchanges show how we have grown together and grown apart over the years across different contexts.

My professional network is one I heavily invest in as well. From former colleagues and managers, to professional associations, to the staff at my current workplace, the exchanges here are focused on information, strategies, skill-sharing, innovation, and career advice. The Slack channels, email threads, and meetings keep these professional networks humming with a constant flow of exchanges.

I can't forget about my networks within my local community as well. Whether it's the engaged parents at my child's school, the volunteers who run community events, or the friendly neighbors I wave to each morning, these micro-networks facilitate exchanges of small talk, favors, shared civic engagement and looking out for one another.

My religious community and networks built around shared hobbies and interests like sports, books, or games represent other spheres with their own norms and types of exchanges. Spiritual reflections, strategic discussions, the latest news - these are the currencies traded within those circles.

When you spiral it all out, the networks I'm part of are seemingly endless. Each one has its own norms, codes of conduct, rituals, and types of goods, information, and gestures that are exchanged. Some exchanges are deep and profound like those with close family, while others are lightweight and transactional like stopping to pet someone's dog on the street.

But each network node, no matter how weak or strong the tie, plays a small part in shaping my identity and grounding me within the fabric of society. The exchanges, whether mundane or profound, are the glue that holds these networks together and facilitates the constant flow of resources, bonds, and mutual support that we all rely on as social beings.

So while it's easy to take these networks for granted and just go about our days, stepping back to really see the intricate webbing is a fascinating exercise in appreciating the beautifully complex systems we humans have woven to organize ourselves into groups for survival, belonging and growth.