When Belonging Means Losing Yourself, Maybe You're in the Wrong Room?

Have you ever felt like you just didn't belong in a room?

Finding the Right Room...

Las Vegas is a city of noise, bright lights, relentless energy, and endless distractions. But sometimes the loudest voices we ignore aren't from the world around us, they're from within. For over a year, I've been on a path of 'more', committing time to questions of belonging, authenticity, and what it really means to be me.

It took the loudest city and an unexpected airport book choice to finally quiet the outside noise long enough to hear what life has been trying to tell me.

The Book...

I walked into the airport shop for a fast-paced thriller, one where I would get lost trying to figure out the twist. But my eyes landed on Emily Freeman's, How to Walk into a Room. Not the mind-numbing book I was looking for, but for some reason I bought it. Yes, I bought the psychological thriller too.

Fortunately for us, life realizes how stubborn we can be and knows when we need more than a nudge, so it takes more of a shove approach.

Lessons behind the noise...

Before the plane took off, I grabbed Freeman's book to see what I had even bought. How to Walk into a Room, wasn't about entering literal rooms. It's about how we show up, how we let ourselves be seen, and how we know when it's time to walk away.

A thought hit me. Sometimes we get labeled as too much, too passionate, and too intense. It's easy to feel like you need to adjust to fit in, or to grow. But maybe it's not you, maybe it's the room and the environment isn't right for you.

Ever felt like life was shouting that truth to you. I have, but I wasn't ready to hear it.

The weight of "too much"...

Most of us know what it feels like to shrink yourself. To dull your spark. To bend and contort for acceptance. And every time, life will start to warn you. The feelings start to creep in: This isn't who you are. This isn't where you belong.

But stubbornness and fear keep you pressing on. Until you can't anymore and you start to wonder.

But what if...

What if our 'too much' isn't a flaw but a direction? What if our passion isn't 'too much'? What if it's leading towards something better?

Maybe the intent isn't to fix ourselves to fit into 'that' room, but to find the right room. The room where our voices don't echo unappreciated but valued. The rooms where we aren't asked to quiet down but instead invited to use that voice to drive change. The room where your uniqueness and differences are more than accepted.

We all have a choice...

Life can be lived as an illusion, or you can find belonging that is built for a reason. A purpose that fulfills your why. A lift built on authenticity is real freedom.

If you've ever been told you're too much, maybe the real message isn't that you need to adjust. Maybe it's that you're in the wrong room. And life, in its relentless way, may have been screaming it for a while.

Maybe have been too stubborn to listen.

Now...

My own story will unfold and so will yours. But for now...

Don't ignore life's whispers in the noise. They're often the signs you need.

And maybe it isn't you that needs to change. Maybe it's simply time to find a new room.

~Alissa Blevins

Rise & Shine You