If you’re not the black sheep in your family, stop reading.
Alright. You’re still here, so you know what this is about.
You’re not a failure. You didn’t do anything wrong. You don’t need fixing.
You’re just... different.
Different in a way that makes people uncomfortable. They won’t say it, but you feel it. A tension in the air, like walking into a room right after a fight.
They would rather you be “normal”. Easier to explain.
Maybe you’re the one who decided to not take over the family business.
The one who never got married.
The one who dropped out of college.
Maybe you’re the one who quit a stable job to chase something that made sense only to you.
The one who still doesn’t know what the fuck to chase.
Who moved abroad. Then moved back. Then left again.
Who left the church.
Went to therapy.
Maybe you’re the one who eats too much. Or not at all.
Who doesn’t want kids. Doesn’t even like them.
The one with ADHD, who was always too intense.
The one with depression, who never had the energy to care. Who was told to smile. To get over it. “Can you please stop crying?”.
The one who never brought someone home. A question they won’t ask because asking makes it real. Gay? Still a virgin? Is that a friend or a “friend”?
Maybe you changed your name. Your body. Your life.
They love you, maybe. Hard to tell. But they don’t understand you, that’s for sure. Even when they try. And somehow, that hurts more than if they didn’t try at all.
And now here you are, at a family dinner, at a wedding, at Christmas, office drinks. Nodding. Playing the role. But you know. And they know. And you know that they know.
You are not broken. You are not wrong.
You’re not alone. Just lonely.
But listen, I have good news... There are others. Like you. Like me. Like the ones you haven’t met yet but will.
It’ll feel like stepping out of a room thick with smoke. Like leaving behind the noise, the heat, and taking a deep breath of clean, fresh air.
You’ll meet someone who makes everything feel lighter. Not by fixing the mood but by being unapologetically themselves. Effortless.
Being around them loosens you up. By being real, they make it safe for you to be real too. To be naked without feeling naked.
Maybe you don’t even know what belonging feels like.
But when you find your tribe you’ll know.
Hey, you made it.
Wardrobe is on the right. You can hang your mask there.
Come in. Drink?
Just water? Cool. Me too.
Welcome.
We’ve been waiting for you.
Thank you for writing this, it made me cry my eyes out. Nobody could describe better that feeling of being left out or out of place as you put in your words. Of course there are others that make you feel you belong somewhere, but sometimes you wonder if you will need to do a performance forever.
This is beautiful.
I feel like it speaks about the idea of how you can either be yourself and disappoint others, or choose to fit into the idea of a "perfect child" yet at the cost of disappointing urself.
And for any1 who's stuck between these 2 choices, I'd say to choose being yourself, the world already has too many people stuck in a loop of trying to be perfect