Belonging

Currently I’m reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown, in which she says…

Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.

This hit me like a ton of bricks.

Why?

Because I’m at a place in my life where just about everything is up in the air. I’m trying to expand my world and figure out who I am and where I fit in and I’m trying on a lot of new things for size, all the while trying to stay centered and remain true to myself.

It made me realize there are only a very, very small number of people in this world with whom I feel I belong. Truly belong. With the comfort of knowing that at best they won’t judge me, or at the very worst, will try to shield me from their judgment because they trust and value me enough to trust and value my decisions. Even the bad ones.

This was a mind-blowing, life-altering realization today. Because I was coming from a place of feeling like I don’t have enough friends and feeling the need to expand my world. Trying to fit in.

I still want to expand my world.

But now I realize that the people who are truly my greatest friends, my dearest companions with whom I’m traveling this life – lifers, because God willing, they’ll be with me to the end of my days – they are enough. Because we belong.