Belonging... not just fitting in

Erika - fourth grade - Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela

“You are only free when you realize you belong no place—you belong every place—no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.” Maya Angelou

I was born in Venezuela. This photo was taken when I was 10, the year my Mum and my Aussie step-dad from Perth, fell in love. By the time my fifteenth birthday came along - special birthday during which you celebrate the passage from girl to womanhood (pic below) - we had lived & gone to school in England, Hong Kong & Perth.

Moving from country to country, from school to school, from friends to friends was a challenge that helped me develop some of my strongest qualities: independence, adaptability & confidence that I could start anew and fit in anywhere.

My fifteenth birthday - mi quinceañera - 1983.

Not if. Not when. Right now. As is. We are worthy of love and belonging. Brené Brown – paraphrase

But fitting in is not belonging.

I have spent most of my life feeling like I could fit anywhere… but belong nowhere.

And sometimes, those great, go-to qualities that fuel success can also get in our way.

Can we be so independent that we make some people around us feel redundant?

Can we be so adaptable that we fail to commit and feel overwhelmed by too many possibilities?

Can we be so confident about starting from scratch that we take what we have created for granted & waste resources & time building everything from scratch?

Yes, yes and yes.

Belonging is a fundamental prerequisite for feeling secure, safe, OK to be.
But belonging is not something that we have to learn to do (thanks Brené).
Belonging is about us being ok with being us.

Today home is Fremantle, Western Australia.
I am 55 years old and have not lived in Venezuela since I was ten.
Today I know I belong everywhere and nowhere, just like Maya Angelou says. 

Today I feel a stronger sense of belonging every day because today I feel a stronger sense of self-acceptance and purpose.
I am grateful for that.