This world needs what you bring. Your skills, your experiences, your propensities, your perspective. All people in this world need connection, and care, and love. There are some that only you can reach. Empathy can be offered by anyone (well, anyone who has practiced the skill of empathy). But there is a special flavor to your empathy that comes from your lived experiences. And it’s needed.
What you bring to the table is enough. The metaphorical table, that I’m talking about here, are your places of belonging. See, belonging doesn’t require an audition. Belonging doesn’t require a set of career skills. Belonging isn’t about the “right fit”, because belonging is not about fitting in. Belonging is about safety and connection. Are you safe to connect with? Is the only interview question.
My answer to “am I safe to connect” changes from moment to moment. The person and the subject that we are connecting over matters a great deal. It is perfectly fine to change the subject. It is perfectly fine to remove myself from the situation. And when, I am ready, I return to the places of belonging, because I am needed, and I need them too.
So maybe you’re like me, and you don’t like measuring, and the recipes you make are hit and miss, and … well this one was a miss. Even then, what you bring to the table is good enough – because you bring you. A feast is not just eating a whole bunch of food. (That’s binging.) A feast is about gathering and connecting (usually over food.) So come with what you have prepared – over salted and all.
