Although most of us have felt the need to fit in, that need can become so overwhelming that we lose ourselves, our integrity, and our identity. We humans want to find a place with people we feel at home with and to which we belong. Furthermore, fitting in is about trying to adapt to a world that’s not your own. You don’t belong there, even if that is all you want to do, and you have tried hard to become a part of it. Belonging, on the other hand, is about inhabiting the world as the real you. And the hard reality is that you’ll never fit in where you don’t belong, no matter how you contort yourself or whose ass you kiss. Fitting in makes you lose yourself to please the crowd. It means putting everyone else before you. Conversely, belonging means that you matter just as much as anybody else does. You finally feel at home only when you know that you count enough to come first. However, it is much easier to fit in and become a part of the crowd than having the courage to walk away. Today, set your intentions no matter what the “crowd” does or thinks; set your intentions to muster up the courage to be yourself and to know that you are enough just as you are, even if you don’t fit in. Today, know that you deserve to be seen and respected as you are, even if it means you don’t fit in. You deserve to be heard. You deserve to be known for the real deal that you are. Today, set your intentions to stop taking the easy way out and continuing the loop of working so hard to fit in. Today, consciously stop trying to fit in. Today accept that the best place in life is where you’re already okay, where you are accepted for your authentic self. Today, come home to you. It’s where you belong.

Just for today, I choose to be happy no matter what other people say, do or think. It does not matter what other people do or say. What does matter is how I choose to react and what I choose to believe about myself. I am far more than other people's opinions. My opinion of myself is the only one that counts. I have the courage to be myself. I am safe. It is only change and Life supports me in every possible way. And so it is.