A backward journey to belonging: Rhiannah's story

Continuing our series of stories of belonging gathered at our Big Day of Belonging in June 2016. Rhiannah shares her backward journey to belonging.

Rhiannah told her story to the Pop Up Story Catcher

 My story of belonging starts with not belonging. Always feeling on the outside. It has taken me a very long time to feel more empathy for people who I feel are on the outer for that reason.

I came to understand I couldn’t belong until I belonged to myself. I realized I was trimming and tailoring myself to try and fit in, to belonging somewhere, whether it was my own family, whether it was society, whether it was a relationship. And I realized I was rejecting my true being.

Then when I got into my true being, I felt I was being rejected and not belonging in society or wherever else.

So in the end I had to ask the question, which one was worse?

That’s where the beauty came. When I asked myself which one was worse, it was not to be connected to myself and not to belong to myself. And therein lay the miracle because then all the sudden I did get the acceptance, I did get the welcoming arms.

Then I started to allow everyone else to be.

I think at the end of the day belonging is about wanting to feel loved for who you are and if you’re not showing who you are, how can that happen? So for me, it almost seemed that I got it backwards.

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