Not All Roads Lead to Belonging
There’s a certain weight that comes with chasing dreams. A kind of heaviness you don’t anticipate when you pack your bags and say goodbye. Everyone talks about growth, ambition, opportunity. No one talks about the silence. About how loud it can get when everything around you feels unfamiliar.
Sometimes the plan is clear. You move with purpose, with hope, with a fire to prove yourself. And sometimes, you find yourself standing in the middle of that dream, completely unsure if it still belongs to you.
I’ve learned a lot in the past year. Mostly about myself, and about what “home” really means. It’s funny how you don’t realise how deeply rooted you are in a place until you step away from it. There are things I miss that I never thought I would. Sounds, smells, random conversations with strangers. The kind of care that doesn’t need words.
This place... it’s different. In many ways, it’s everything people glorify. But also, in ways that matter to me, it’s empty. You can have everything here and still feel like you have nothing. People exist beside each other, not with each other. And that difference changes you.
I’ve struggled. Silently, mostly. Trying to hold onto the reason I came here in the first place. Trying to justify the sacrifices that were made for me. Trying to stay strong for the people I love. And somewhere in between, realising that strength sometimes just looks like getting through the day.
But I’m also grateful. Grateful that I haven’t had to do this alone. Grateful for the little moments of warmth that still find their way in. And deeply, deeply grateful for where I come from. For the kind of people we are. For the connections we carry so effortlessly. For the mess and the magic of it all.
Maybe this journey will make sense one day. Maybe it won’t. But either way, I know now. Some things are worth returning to. Some things are home, no matter how far you go.











