A sense of belonging…
Where do you belong…?
When I was younger, I found it very hard to ‘belong’ to a group… We started moving around just when I started high school. In Grade 7 it wasn’t so bad - It was my first move; I was reasonably confident in myself; and it was to a smaller school in a smaller town where everyone tended to join in together. In Grade 8, I went to three different schools in three different towns… This was much harder. By the third school I had lost my confidence and my ability to ‘make friends’. I didn’t know how to start a friendship, I didn’t know how to just join in with another group. I was very much an ‘outsider’…
I guess that my biggest problem was the fact that I didn’t really have much confidence in myself – I have always been surprised when others want to be friends with me, as my low self-esteem makes me assume that I am not worth knowing… Although this is not true, it makes me portray a different person to others than who I really am. A friend at school later told me that at first she thought I was a snob, because I didn’t seem to want to play with them… I certainly wasn’t a snob, I just didn’t know how to join in…
Eventually I was asked to join a Youth Group… This gave me a group to be a part of, and I finally made some friends and felt like I belonged. I finally gained my confidence back, and now I try to look out for others who seem to be on their own.
Do you belong? It is really important to be part of a group. If you are part of a group, you are never truly alone…
If you are not part of a group now, there are many options. Some people belong to a sporting group, but this may not be for you. There are several youth groups which run locally (for those in my region): Midway Point, Sorell, Carlton, Primrose Sands… some are run by the council, some by community members, some by churches. If you would like to be part of a group, but don’t know how or where, just ask me and I will help find somewhere for you.
Do you belong? I hope so…
Shalom 
