To some extent, at one point or another in their life, everyone struggles to belong. For some it's easier than others. For me, I was so shy as a child and had a hard time overcoming it growing up. It didn't help that in my town, if you were either rich or athletic - or, if you were very blessed, both - you were easily accepted. Unfortunately, I was neither. Well, I could have been athletic, but I let my shyness get in the way and prevent me from doing things I secretly wanted to do. So as a child and then a teenager in school, I struggled to belong, to find my place. It happened eventually, once I stopped caring about things that just weren't worth it.
Moving to a new area would always bring up the same old issues for me - trying to find my place. In our last place, we lived there for 5 years and still knew no one, not even our next-door neighbors. We both worked full-time, until I had Alexander, so it was easy not to get out and meet people. After he was born, it was nearly impossible to get myself out and about. I tried, for his sake, and enrolled us in one Music Together class. That was big for me. We didn't make any lifelong friendships but it was a good experience.
Now, after 7 years here, I feel like I finally belong. Part of me will never stop pining my old town, where I grew up (and have since forgiven for the whole money/athletics thing), but otherwise, I feel like I belong in this town. I know people, my kids know people, and in spite of my shyness that still crops up every so often, I push past my hermitical tendencies and get out there with the people of the real world. I may still not want to belong to any club that would have me as a member, but even still, it's nice to belong.
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