Ever since I heard of Brené Brown’s new book, I knew I had to read it. It was the title that caught my eye first – ‘Braving the Wilderness: the quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone’. I, too, had been struggling with the sense of displacement throughout my childhood and early twenties, yearning to belong, to find my place and my people.
As humans, we are wired for connection. We all want to be part of something. And more often than not we try to gain the sense of belonging by seeking approval and trying to fit in. But at the end of the day, it only makes us feel lonely and disconnected. ‘True belonging is not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are’.
In her book Brené introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge our thinking and ‘require us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are’.
