The Journey Into Belonging

Twenty-five conversations. One extraordinary journey.

When I began The Belonging Podcast, I thought I was collecting interviews.

Instead, I found myself collecting pieces of a puzzle.

Over the past six months, I sat down with psychologists, pastors, educators, entrepreneurs, foster care advocates, coaches, and changemakers from many different walks of life. Each arrived with their own story, their own language, and their own understanding of belonging.

What surprised me most wasn't their differences.

It was how often they finished one another's thoughts.

Although none of these guests have ever met, their voices weave together into one continuous conversation about one of the deepest human longings we all share:

To know that we matter.

The Journey Into Belonging is not a "best of" episode. It is a documentary created entirely from the wisdom of the remarkable people who have joined us throughout this first season.

As you listen, you may discover that this isn't simply their journey.

It may become your own.

Thank you for walking this road with us.

And thank you for helping create a world where more people know what it feels like to belong.

With gratitude,

Melissa Kaye

Founder, Elev8 Villages

To support this work go to: https://givebutter.com/Z0LM5V

To learn more about Elev8 Villages go to: https://www.elev8villages.org/

This podcast exists because we believe belonging is not a luxury. It’s a human need. Every story shared here helps us imagine a world where no one has to walk alone. 

If this conversation resonated with you, please follow, rate, or share the show with someone who might need it today. To learn more about the movement we’re building (or to get involved) visit Elev8Villages.org.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of The Belonging Podcast by Elev8 Villages - where belonging becomes a place we build together. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:15

I've spent years asking one question because I just can't stop wondering what is belonging and how does having it or lacking it affect the world. So I started a podcast. Twenty-five conversations later, I realized I'm not conducting interviews. I'm really collecting pieces of a puzzle. A puzzle that I've been searching to complete my whole life. These 25 people have never met. They're from different countries, different faiths. They have different politics and different professions. And they have different stories. And yet, somehow, together, their voices tell a very profound story.

SPEAKER_12 1:14

People hear and see so much that leads them astray from what really internally will fulfill them. So now people are hungrier than ever to find a place where they belong.

SPEAKER_06 1:33

They simply described the search and where the search led them.

SPEAKER_16 1:47

Because growing up, uh, we moved to the States from Korea when I was six. I wasn't Korean enough for my for the Koreans, and I wasn't white enough for the Americans. So I was always in this weird space. As I gotten older and I started working in church, when I was uh when I was a Methodist, there was like I wasn't progressive enough for some, and I wasn't conservative enough for others. In the Korean American church circle, uh, I wasn't conservative enough to be part of the Korean American pastors and give up parts of myself or my con uh convictions and beliefs. And now as an Episcopalian, um, I still find myself on the fringes of uh the in-between spacing.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

I was raised in a dysfunctional home. I didn't understand dysfunction or codependency. I just knew that I never felt like I belonged in my own family. I was raised with a very rigid, very um disciplinarian father and a very hyper-critical mother. So there wasn't a lot of um love or nurturing in the household. It was a situation where you walked on eggshells and you were always waiting for the hammer to drop. But if you're raised in a household having those emotional needs left unmet as a child, you need to look for that everywhere else. We want to be helpful of people and hopes that they will give us what we need, which is again love and attention and affirmation. And so that develops this cycle of this constant chronic people pleasing. You learn how to become very small.

SPEAKER_08 3:12

When I was in grade six, I had a moment where I was on the outsides of the cool kids, and um they were down the street, and I knew I was on the outside, but I went over to be with them, and they literally were like, We don't want you here. It was one of those moments that I know has truly like profoundly impacted my life. That straight out rejection has literally made me to be one of those people where I always want people to feel a sense of belonging and welcome. I recognized what my values were and then I needed to create them.

SPEAKER_06 3:44

Different stories, but the same longing. Jim taught me that sometimes finding where you don't belong can lead us to where we do.

SPEAKER_21 3:55

There was a time where I didn't belong. I was selling drugs. I I knew in my heart, my soul, that that's not where I belonged. That's not who I wanted to be. It was out of fear, it was out of a situation where I was trying to get out of. In those times when I was doing that, I didn't belong. I didn't belong around the gang. I didn't belong in the trap house. I didn't belong in those scenarios or those situations in the back of those cars and in sketchy parking lots and around people that I didn't align with. Um, so that was tough. And when you're doing something that you know is wrong, that you feel like you don't belong, there's always something tugging at you. And it took a long time to navigate. I didn't love myself enough to have confidence, to move through the fear. I started meeting people who did give me love, started meeting people who did make me feel like I belonged. And once I started to love myself, even of my mistakes, even of my shame, even of the grief I had, to the people around you that remind you of your worth and give you the confidence. And it starts with love and it ends with love.

SPEAKER_06 5:06

As I re-listen to these stories, I'm learning that belonging isn't a static thing or a perfect place, the perfect group, the perfect job, even the perfect house. Instead, it seems to be a condition from which we create the world around us.

SPEAKER_15 5:24

To be in a place where you don't expect to have people care for you in your life on an ongoing basis, people you can rely on, that that creates a tremendous void. And of course, children, if they're not getting that, they're trying to figure out what's wrong with them. That nobody loves them enough to be there for them. And that's what gets carried through where these young people are trying to figure out what it is that's wrong with them.

SPEAKER_06 5:53

After listening to story after story of people searching for belonging, I began wondering something else. If we all long to belong, where does belonging actually begin?

SPEAKER_12 6:14

The feeling within oneself of being able to move through life with purpose and intention. I think if you can move through life with those two things, you can feel belonging wherever you go. It makes me think of like a mirror looking into oneself and answering the question: Do I feel like I belong here? Do I feel that I'm on the right path?

SPEAKER_06 6:39

The more I listened, the more I noticed that the search for belonging was becoming less about finding the right place and more about becoming the kind of person who could truly belong. So I found myself wondering, if belonging has a foundation, what is that?

SPEAKER_00 7:01

While there are many layers to belonging, like there are nuances, there are different different aspects in which we can belong. If we consider belonging as a pyramid and the various layers stacked on top of each other, um the foundational aspect is belonging to the self. If I don't feel a sense of belonging to myself, then it is going to be very difficult for me to belong anywhere else. I have to first um accept and belong to myself and love myself and not abandon myself. And when I do that and I feel whole in myself, I can then be comfortable and belonging in other places.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Belonging is a is a state of mind to me, and I had to create it for myself. I didn't thought like I belonged. I always wanted to fit in. So belonging didn't come to me easily, it came to me when I started to rearrange my life and realizing my worth and the value I bring to the table. And I was able to do that. I was able to create my own table. It's a way of being. And then as soon as I did that, I started attracting those who appreciate my way of thinking, my way of living, my way of being, and we just lifted each other up from there.

SPEAKER_06 8:40

As I listened, I noticed the circle expanding. Apparently, the destination isn't belonging to oneself. Belonging to oneself becomes the beginning of something much larger.

SPEAKER_10 8:57

When I was a little girl, we had a gorgeous garden and we had rhododendrons that were the size of trees. There was a day that I was tucked under one of these rhododendrons, and I just was using my imagination. I just was being open and free and basically being a child and just letting my thoughts explore possibilities and play. And I had this little sense, this feeling. That there's something special for me to be and do. And I just had this sense that um that I was needed. And there's that sense that we we belong to something greater than ourselves. And when we connect with that greater good, we're able to see our own worth, and we're able, the result of seeing our own worth isn't just, oh, look at me, I'm so great, but we're able to contribute without fear and without self-consciousness.

SPEAKER_06 10:12

Listening to Angela, I realized that belonging was changing how the guests saw themselves. It was changing what they believed they had to offer. I'm discovering that belonging to ourselves is actually a gift that we get to give.

SPEAKER_22 10:36

And for some of us, that unique special gift went into hiding for protection, safety, whatever. And so taking the lens that each person truly has their a unique puzzle piece to humanity, and that the only way that unique piece will come alive is if you are the absolute protector and steward of that unique puzzle piece. Knowing that, then that's my only task is to bring this unique gift, and the only way it can come out is if I belong to myself because I am the steward, only I can steward this gift, only I can create the conditions for this to come alive, and that is how I can truly serve humanity.

SPEAKER_06 11:33

So if every person carries a unique puzzle piece, then belonging isn't just about healing me. Maybe it's about humanity needing what only I can contribute. So, what happens when people who belong to themselves begin creating belonging for someone else? I noticed my guests didn't stop with discovering belonging. That discovery of belonging led them to create it for others.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I think my my entire life has really been a life of trying to figure out where it is I I do belong because most of these places I like I stick out like a sort of thing. I think my but the plight of my life was to create the space that I wanted to be in. Creating spaces for people who may not fit any particular place, bring all of you to the space, and you're accepted and you're loved, no matter what that means. And so I think that has been my plight to really create a space that I felt like I needed growing up.

SPEAKER_09 12:46

There was something about going into a new space and then not knowing who to turn to, who who would be friendly, who would not be friendly. At first, it really made me feel alone, and then it made me curious about who else doesn't belong. Like so I think it was when I started to recognize that in any space, we often have someone who feels left out or is and how to help them overcome that by seeing them, by recognizing who is outside of the circle. And I I have found this in quite a few settings that you know you can go into a you can go into a meeting and all the people who know each other collect over by the table with the sandwiches, and then there's other folks who are like sitting by themselves at, you know, a table, right? How do you then just go over and speak to them, introduce them, make sure that they know where things are, you know?

SPEAKER_06 13:36

Creating belonging doesn't seem complicated. It seems like it can begin by simply noticing.

SPEAKER_16 13:43

A lot of people today aren't heard, um, and so they are conditioned to shout or be loud or be emotional. It's different from person to person, from community to community, but one thing I learned to provide a sense of safety and belonging is to let people know that they are seen and that they are heard. Both of them are difficult, so maybe one or the other to start with. And those go a long way. The last thing I want to do is to tell people you need to believe what I believe in order to be part of this. Uh that's the part of the work that we're doing. It's trying to create a space where people feel like they are seen, known, and loved.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

By this point, I'm beginning to understand that belonging isn't built only in big moments. It's built in the ordinary ones, too. It's built when we show up, even when we don't know what's needed.

SPEAKER_18 14:35

One of the things that for me was honesty. Honesty. And that sounds funny, but I had friends that say, you know what, Maria, I want to support you. I just don't know what to say. I'm so sorry. I I took that. I'm like, I appreciate that. Or they would say, you know what, Maria, um, I know I don't know how you feel, but can I pray for you? Or I hope you're having a great day. Or they would be okay with me sometimes having the energy to respond, sometimes not responding, or just saying, okay, that's it. How can I help you today? Or just show up and sit with me. That's it. Like they do sit in Shiva, that kind of thing. They just sit down and cry with you. And so I had people that just come and say, you know what, I really don't know what to say. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm here. I'm just here. And I was so grateful. I was grateful. And when they could, they sent a plate of food. When they could, they they just gave me a call or send me a text. But they showed up and said, I'm here. And then they allowed me to say yes, no, and gave me grace that if I didn't respond, they would come back. And they gave me that space that for me to react however I needed to react, or however much energy I had to react at that moment for that. And they allowed, they didn't say, Oh my god, I sent her a plate and she didn't eat it, or oh my god, I sent her a thank you know and she didn't call me, and oh my god, I sent her flowers and she didn't send me a thank you no. There was so much grace given to me that they allowed me to behave however my energy level let me behave.

SPEAKER_06 16:10

The conversation was furthered by learning that showing up is a beautiful part of the story, and how we show up can change everything.

SPEAKER_11 16:22

The human soul is like a frightened animal, it's like a wild animal. And so you you don't approach it, like run at it, and and you sort of you coax it and you build trust with it and you and you feed it. And the soul needs to be deeply seen and to be heard and to be loved for who you are and what you are. And so when you when you give people the opposite and you give them shame, they're never gonna listen to you. That you are now the enemy as soon as you shame them and they're gonna fight you all the way. And that's just such a big waste of energy, really. Um, and yeah, and so whenever I'm doing my spiritual work, the message is always to like open, open, open, like open your heart, help other people open their hearts and open your eyes. I think it's the only pattern that will really work to get us to build the culture that that we really want.

SPEAKER_07 17:13

I think that's what belonging does too, is it it gives you role models, belonging, but it also gives you fellow travelers, right? It gives you others that you that you can look to as part of your your tribe.

SPEAKER_06 17:28

I think I expected creating belonging to cost us something, but instead it seems just to call us to be present, and somehow in that presence, something so easy to miss begins to awaken.

SPEAKER_11 17:53

Being super present and super um for me it's it's like uh picking a hot strawberry out of the sun in my back garden and eating it really slowly, and then it explodes through your brain, and you just and like when you're really intentionally um tasting, letting that experience fill you up, you know, and it's like now I want a strawberry. That's uh there's a story to me that's really really present. Yeah, we need so little to experience so much joy, and we work so hard and we destroy so much to try and get a little bit of happiness and status, and then feel terrible at the end when we could just slow down, teach each other to to just tune into our senses and just feel so much joy and need to to consume so much less.

SPEAKER_20 18:59

I think of like taking up space in a in a really interesting way because so if you look at nature, no species, no plant is like hesitant about blooming. In fact, if they don't bloom, then it throws off the rest of the cycle, right? And so in an ecosystem, say if I'm a flower and I don't bloom, and then I don't bring the pollinators, and the rest of the flowers don't get um seeded, and then everything goes to shit. Right? And so this this feeling of like authenticity is like, okay, who can I be? Which permits me to be who I want to be in a way that's like amazing and awesome and like fully bloomed and nourished and allows others to do the same.

SPEAKER_06 19:51

What an amazing breakthrough. Authenticity is actually an act of generosity. But what happens if we forget who we are? How do we get back?

SPEAKER_21 20:06

I woke up the next morning and and I called Steve. And I remember pacing in my backyard, and I'm just walking around my fire pit, and I'm just going back and forth, and I and I make the call. And and Steve reminded me in that moment, remember all those times, Jim, when your back was up against the wall? And yeah, you might have had to scream, kick, and crawl your way out of it, but you're still standing here today. And in that moment, I broke down. I I pouring tears, pouring. And I got and I'm gonna get emotional thinking about it right now because it was just such a if I didn't have Steve, I don't know what I would have done. And I remember hanging up the phone and having this sense of power, this sense of energy back. Having this sense of, I'm not doing this for me anymore. I'm doing it because I need to impact people and I need to use my words to change the world, and I need to give people the love that I just got from Steve.

SPEAKER_06 21:20

Whew, Jim reminded me that one person's love can change another person's life. I've also learned through this podcast that belonging isn't built in just the easy moments. It's built in thousands of ordinary ones, and sometimes the deepest belonging must come out of some uncomfortable and difficult moments.

SPEAKER_14 21:45

I had to say, I feel like you don't care about my needs. I feel like you only care about yourself. And I w I want my needs to matter in the household. And he had to say to me, exactly. The same thing. I feel like you care about my needs. I feel like you only care about what you need and what's good for you. So we had to do that. And I had to say, I hear you. I hear that you feel like I don't care about you. And what that's not how I would characterize my relationship with you, but I hear that that's what you're feeling. So just to have a space or to have practic help both of you hear each other ideally and understand where you're coming from before you try to like solve it. Because if we had just gone in and tried to brainstorm it, it wouldn't have worked. We are both too upset.

SPEAKER_13 22:46

Leadership, especially if you're trying to be a good leader and a strong leader and a supportive one, then it's part, it's a really key part of your job to ensure that your team feels a sense of belonging. Um, and I think that really starts with you. So if you don't feel that in your workplace, how are others around you gonna feel that? Right. So making sure that you have created that within yourself for the organization and then helping your team to make sure that they are respected and seen and valued.

SPEAKER_06 23:18

The more I listened, the more I realized that belonging isn't simply changing individuals or relationships or even organizations. It seems that true belonging has the possibility of changing humanity.

SPEAKER_05 23:37

I think our modern institutions, our social systems, most of them, most of them are designed around this assumption that we are separate. We are separate from nature and the planet and the ecosystem. We are we are separate from each other. And in many cases, we even separate ourselves from the consequences of our choices or actions. We think about success as if it's individuals. So if I went out in the world and achieved all of my goals, I did it on my own. And in reality, all of all of it is relational and interdependent. We are operating from this myth of separation. Um, and that's just not how life actually works. In a living system, nothing exists in isolation. Everything is shaped by relationships, by interdependence. We, you know, think about things from this separate sort of isolationist mindset and design for that, design our systems for that. Um, then our systems extract from individuals. Um they compete instead of collaborating, and we isolate ourselves and each other instead of connecting. So then we get burnout, fragmentation, despair, lack of support. Um, and then in and then we blame it on the individuals rather than recognizing that these are all collective experiences and they're outcomes of the way we've designed our systems.

SPEAKER_06 25:11

If that's true, then belonging isn't just personal. It shapes families, neighborhoods, organizations, communities, even nations. So I began wondering again, what kind of world are we creating together?

SPEAKER_17 25:37

Years ago, when I was um doing work with the LART with the region around uh waste management, and one of the bylines that came to me one day when we were working on this initiative was we have to drop the S from belongings and get to belonging. Because waste management was all about a lot about the fact that we we have so much consumer goods and we focus a lot of our ways of looking at the world, our design our idea of success, our concept of wealth on belongings. And yet, if we just drop the S, we start to have a whole different understanding. And uh we're moving into a world where relationships um are incredibly important, more important than they've ever been. And that in the relational world, a sense of being with others in ways where you feel comfort, where you can explore. We all have different reasons for coming into relationship with people, but one of the core feelings we wish to have when we're in with this group of people is a sense of belonging.

SPEAKER_06 26:47

What a great reminder that belonging is more valuable than belongings. This reminded me of a conversation with Sam when she spoke about our responsibility to all of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Everyone wants to be a part of the village, but no one wants to be a villager. We all want to be part of the village that's support, but we don't want to be the person who's supporting. We want to be the person who is being supported.

SPEAKER_06 27:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

So we we have villages full of people who want to be supported. But you actually have to have people supporting. And who is that and and like, how does that work? Sometimes I feel like I got it wrong. And maybe what the world needs is people who are just fostering kids and talking to their neighbor, and we can be so busy trying to do these epic things. I was in startup world, business, people doing big things. The harm that happens in those spaces is we're so focused, invested in trying to change the world that we completely neglect and miss our own worlds in front of us.

SPEAKER_04 27:59

We can all create an opportunity for us to belong. Um, and we belong to each other. I think the key is acknowledging where that person is coming from, especially if you are the person with the power to create that opportunity. Look into their lived experiences and where they're coming from, what are they looking to achieve? Um, and how can I enable them? Enabling someone automatically helps them feel they belong. I would look for what would enable this person to get to what they think is they want to get to, and we can't determine that for them. So I had to have that conversation with them. What is it you want from this new life? How can I help you and support you?

SPEAKER_06 28:50

So thinking of the village, thinking of enabling and creating belonging is all so lovely and hopeful. But I had a nagging feeling that it might also, like so many things, have a dark side.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

No, I think division is I don't think it's the opposite of belonging. I think it's the toxic version of belonging. Because if belonging is acceptance, division is acceptance of certain people on a certain thing, creating division between the people, seeing people as enemies or as a problem instead of saying that we have differences of opinions. Now it's us versus them. We wedge an issue in the middle, and all of a sudden, the same thing that could bring us all together is the very thing being used as a weapon.

SPEAKER_06 29:47

When Sean said that, it stopped me in my tracks because I had to consider that belonging itself could become unhealthy, that we can create belonging by pushing someone else outside of the circle. So how I wondered again, how can we move closer to healthy belonging?

SPEAKER_09 30:14

Culturally, it would cause change, right? It would cause sharing of power, and it would be power with as opposed to power over. We are so accustomed to structures that are power over structures, that there's always a jockeying and uh always an interplay with understanding who holds more influence, and we react to that, or we try to get close to that influence, or we try and be in opposition to that influence, right? But that doesn't, power over does not create belonging. Right? Power with has a better chance of creating belonging.

SPEAKER_06 30:48

Perhaps the future won't be built by people who know how to win, but instead built by people who know how to belong and how to create belonging.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

There is this dance, and the only way through is understanding, is actually seeing each other, listening to knowing who each other are, understanding where this is coming from, and both people being open and willing to accept the other person and their story and believing them, even if you don't understand. I say wars and conflicts break out because either person is trying to be right, and they're doing everything that they can to prove that they are the one who's right. Because if I'm right, then we need to do it my way. Right. For me, the question is no longer who's right, but what if we're both right?

SPEAKER_05 31:57

I feel like we want to start with creating conditions for safety so that we can unlock curiosity. People need to know that they won't be shamed or punished for showing up as themselves. Um, it's about feeling like you have the opportunity to influence what shows up. Um, so we have shared responsibility uh to each other, creating conditions for people um to feel safe, feel seen, to feel heard, and then to invite people to take shared responsibility. It is one relationship at a time that can make a massive difference.

SPEAKER_06 32:47

Wow, it is one relationship at a time that can make a massive difference. I love that quote. Through all 25 conversations, the group of people knocking on my heart, the reason for this very podcast, is young adults who've experienced years of foster care only to be abandoned as they enter into adulthood. And my heart for these youth isn't because their need for belonging is any greater than ours, but it's because their loss of belonging has been so profound. They are the compass that keep pointing me back to more and more questions. What kind of a world are we creating for them? How can we do better? And what do they need from us?

SPEAKER_07 33:47

But I will say what we learned over time is that, and and and having stuff, having resources is very important. But what we learned is that what youth needed more than anything was to know that they belong, that they belong somewhere, that they belong to a community of people that are committed to their well-being. When you belong to a family or to a community, you you know that there is someone who believes in you. And that when when you have someone who believes in you, then you begin to believe in yourself.

SPEAKER_06 34:26

Community of people committed to their well-being, okay?

SPEAKER_19 34:30

Where it's safe to meet to try and help them figure out life. Um, I think having mentors around, having people in the village, your elders, you guys are all running through this together. If we don't feel a connection, we feel alone. We don't feel no one understands what I'm going through. And I think what you're building is phenomenal because unlike anywhere else, if you take that 19-year-old and put them in any other situation, they absolutely feel alone because no one knows what I've dealt with, no one knows what I am dealing with, no one knows what I'm thinking about for the future. But you put them in that kind of environment, you're all in this together. And it makes it easier for you to connect with people.

SPEAKER_06 35:22

We're all in this together. Make it easier to connect to other people.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

You could tell them, yes, you're safe here, but how do you demonstrate to that to them so that they really know it and believe it? So if they do make a mistake or if they raise their voice or if they lose their temper, how we respond to them as they're being their traumatized selves is gonna make the difference to them and how they feel safe, how they feel heard. If someone is saying, yes, I'm hearing you right now, I hear the pain in your voice, I see that you're struggling. How let me come alongside you and support you. I'm not gonna vilify you. We're gonna walk with you and we're gonna show you new ways to behave. This behavior no longer serves you because you're in a different environment. We're gonna demonstrate that for you. Patience and consistency help them find their identity. They don't even know what they like and don't like in a lot of cases. When you don't have that foundation, you're desperate to figure it out. You need to know who am I and where do I belong.

SPEAKER_06 36:22

Well, beside them, patience, consistency.

SPEAKER_12 36:26

Each time that they helped me, I I was blown away by the fact that there's people who actually exist to support you in um in going where you want to go. And on the note of belonging, it it goes like hand in hand. Where um the fact that they're there to support me in achieving the goals, it it means that there's a place where I belong. And I started to become addicted to finding support for my goals, inadvertently becoming addicted to finding belonging wherever I go in life. To the point where now I feel so extremely confident in cultivating belonging within myself. And it starts with leaning into finding that support, finding the tools, the skills that people are using within those environments. You can create belonging.

SPEAKER_06 37:26

I love hearing Michael say that he was blown away that people really wanted to support him. We can create belonging. We will walk beside these youth. We are committed to their well-being. I can't end this conversation without one more comment from my mentors, Don and Diane, with their depth of experience working for decades with the youth in San Diego.

SPEAKER_15 37:54

And I want to reinforce what you're saying, which is without that belonging, without that connection, it's that that is not a nice thing to have. It's a vital thing. It's an essential thing. And when we don't have it, things start to unravel. And if and if we don't recognize that and act on that with intention, it's gonna come apart.

SPEAKER_07 38:19

And and I think to build on what you just said, Don, for me, belonging brings joy.

SPEAKER_15 38:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 38:26

I feel so much joy in belonging, and I have seen so much joy for our participants and our alumni. And they connect it, they say, actually, out they they openly say, it's because I feel like I belong, right?

SPEAKER_06 38:42

25 Voices, one profound conversation. I'm learning that belonging isn't something we find once and hold tightly to it forever. I think it's something we choose again and again. It's something we offer over and over. Every time we enter a room, every time we stay curious, every time we decide another human being matters. That's when we practice belonging. These final voices are still echoing in me. Listen.

SPEAKER_18 39:21

I believe everybody has a story. Everybody has an amazing story that needs to be told. I believe that there's a lot of people that have learned lessons that would save other people time. We're figuring it all out and we're connecting, we're building this community, and you belong to the human race, I belong to the human race, and we're here together.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

I think that the number one responsibility is understanding that we are in a divisive world and not pretending like we're not. Therefore, when you're in the office and you see someone who you know doesn't fit in and they're eating alone, and you're like, hey, you're eating alone. Do you want to eat alone? Because I don't really want to eat alone. Do you mind if we if we eat together? That is recognizing that we live in a divided world and knowing your surroundings, recognizing where you are, who you are. Um, I think that is the one of the most important things that you can do to begin to make a difference in a in a really, really harshly divided and polarized world.

SPEAKER_05 40:28

You already belong. We all already belong. We belong to our world, we belong to each other, we belong in our communities. Somehow we have we have stepped out of that sense of belonging. We have given away our agency, we have given away our seat at the table. And we get to build the world we want to be in, and we already live in it and we already belong to it. Life is already always at work, life is already, always doing it, and we already belong. So why not just do all of that on purpose together in ways that bring all of us into intentional community together? Because that's how we're gonna thrive.

SPEAKER_10 41:14

You are dearly loved forever. You are needed, you are wanted.

SPEAKER_06 41:21

When I started this journey, I thought I was trying to answer the question, what is belonging? 25 conversations later, I think my question is now, where is belonging and how can I partner with it? Maybe that's the question that each of us gets to live. Not just for a day, not just this year, but for the rest of our lives. Thank you for walking this journey with me. Until next time, keep making room, keep expanding the circle. And let's build belonging together.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

My story is proof of one thing. You don't have to accept the systems you're born into. You can dismantle them, you can reimagine them, you can build new ones, brick by brick, choice by choice. And when you build something better, you don't just change your own life. You become the revolution. The unseen remote reaching people you'll never meet. In places you'll never know. In moments that exist after you're gone. This is the bridge. Whether you know it or not.