Fitting in: We’ve all felt the need to fit in at some point in our lives. It isn’t a particularly welcoming feeling, but it is a pretty natural one! We all have an innate desire to form close, lasting relationships—friend relationships, family relationships, and a romantic relationship—and to establish a sense of connection. 

Sometimes we feel like we don’t belong because of things that we literally cannot and could never change about ourselves, and sometimes we feel left out because of a difference of opinion or belief. Maybe you have different goals in life than your friends, and even something as seemingly insignificant as a goal could lead to such dramatically different uses of time and schedules that you and those friends drift apart.

Tune in to the full episode here!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts

---

These are all things we have to live with and lead despite on a daily basis. My first encouragement is this: You can either keep your goals, have aspirations, be ambitious, or you can change to fit the mold. That is 100% your choice.

The same goes for your beliefs or the way in which you might not physically resemble the members of a group you’re trying to be a part of. Sometimes, those differences seem much bigger in our minds than they are in reality, but regardless: My best suggestion is to be okay with those differences. 

I’ve been the only person with (insert whichever characteristic, physical attribute, or belief here) plenty of times, and it can be uncomfortable! I don’t think that is ever something someone really enjoys, but we can intentionally choose to be so at peace with who we are, how we look, how we dress, etc. that it becomes out of sight and out of mind. 

RELATED: Defining Success & Preparing for Opportunity

The biggest example I have is going to a military college that was only 10% female, which means more often than not, I was the only girl in class or on the team. 

If you can just get to that inner place of calm and inner place of confidence, then I think it will do wonders to make our differences disappear. 

There are more potential reasons why you might not feel like you fit in shared on episode 10 of the podcast, and I think it’s pretty important that we all take a deeper dive into this and rid ourselves of the “left out” feeling once and for all. 

The cure? 

I really think it lies in the work it takes to reach satisfaction with who we are as people who might not always perfectly fit in. And that’s okay! In fact, I think it’s way better than okay. It’s amazing! 

Sources: HackSpirit, Verywellmind

---