Do You Ever Feel Like You Don’t Belong?

My Dear Stranger,

Do you ever feel like you don’t belong in this world?

Well, I do.

I often feel like I don’t fit anywhere—

like I’m standing slightly out of frame, present, yet misplaced.

nor like I’m always a step behind,

or standing slightly to the side of where life is happening.

Lost. Lonely.

And yet…I want to belong.

I want to feel like I belong—somewhere, even once.

I want to know what it feels like to walk into a room without shrinking,

to exist without constantly adjusting myself to be easier to accept, easier to understand, easier to keep.

Sometimes I try. I soften my edges. I quiet my thoughts.

I hide the parts of me that feel too deep, too sensitive, too much.

Not because I want to disappear, but because I’m hoping—just once—that someone will see me and say, "You can stay exactly as you are."

I don’t want perfection. I don’t want applause.

I just want a place where my presence feels natural, where I don’t have to earn my right to exist.

Maybe belonging isn’t about fitting in after all.

Maybe it’s about being allowed to remain, to be me—unexplained, unedited, unfinished.

And until I find that place, I’ll keep carrying this quiet hope inside me:

that somewhere in this vast world, there is space meant for me.

Your stranger,

Vie