All the Ways I Tried to Belong

We spend so much of life bending toward belonging — saying yes when we mean no, softening truth to keep the peace.

This piece is part of a collection of poems and reflections about what it means to come home to ourselves — to remember that Spirit was never gone, only waiting for our return.

I said yes

when I meant not really.

I smiled

when I meant, that hurt.

I softened the truth

to keep the peace,

and called it love.

I wanted to belong

anywhere—

to feel normal,

to exhale in safety.

And in doing so,

I left myself behind.

But Spirit

was there all along,

in the quiet spaces

where nothing needs proving

and no one needs fixing.

It didn’t ask me

to be better—

only to be.

And there,

at last,

I belonged.