How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community

by Mia Birdsong

James Baldwin wrote, “The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.”1 We all seek belonging,

Not having deep connection is causing us mental and physical harm.

We craft stories that highlight our successes and strength, and leave out the places we feel stuck or lost.

Audre Lorde, “The speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don’t miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you. And at last, you’ll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.”