A Little On Belonging

When I first discovered jewellery making, although I didn’t realise it at the time, I was creating my very own pocket of belonging; a space where I was Caitlin Dione and where it was important that I was exactly that person, instead of being anyone else. 

Have you ever had the feeling that you don’t belong? The feeling that in a room full of people, you’re an island?

I have. More times in my life than I could possibly count. I suppose that one could make a strong argument for that feeling being largely due to moving around a lot as a child; never feeling that I had roots beneath me holding me steady against even the strongest of winds. The feeling of moving away from my family and finding myself in the new and ever-changing environments of the international schooling system taught me to never feel totally secure and comfortable anywhere. To never take for granted the familiarity that gives you a sense of belonging, because in the blink of an eye, those places, people and feelings can change.

For many years, as far back as I can remember, really, I craved the notion of belonging. I wished so desperately to feel as though I was exactly where I was meant to be and with who I was meant to be with. Life felt a lot like laughing at a joke you don’t really understand until long after the laughter has stopped. Like I was always missing the punchline but I was damned if I’d let anyone know that I felt that way.

It is only now, all these years later, that I realise that maybe I didn’t belong in my world as much as so many other people seemed to. And maybe I didn’t belong because I was carving out a new space of belonging for other people who, like me, hadn’t quite found their place of belonging; their way to comfortably be a part of the world around them. Because the truth is, we only ever truly belong as much as we create those spaces for ourselves to exist in. It is by being our authentic selves that we create space for others to do the same in. Isn’t that something?

When I first discovered jewellery making, although I didn’t realise it at the time, I was creating my very own pocket of belonging; a space where I was Caitlin Dione and where it was important that I was exactly that person, instead of being anyone else. It became a space where I could learn, succeed and fail (please believe me, there were and are many blunders in this home that I have slowly built for myself) by my own standards. And importantly, it was in carving that place out for myself that I found so many other beautiful souls who were trying to do exactly the same thing for themselves, often without even realising it.

I think in essence, that’s the thing that I love most about handcrafted jewellery: the fact that every piece is it’s own unique entity, looking for someone to share the best and worst parts of itself with. Each piece, from design to fruition, is handcrafted uniquely for someone, somewhere. Sometimes it’s an engagement ring that can adequately communicate beautiful love stories, from one heart to another, whilst sometimes it’s something that someone treats themselves to on payday as a reminder to just. keep. going. And the amazing thing? No piece is less important than any other. They are all, every single one of them, pieces of the stories that we come to tell as a way of finding our place in the world where we feel most authentically ourselves and in turn, the place where we truly belong.

So the next time you feel like you don’t belong, please know that it’s because you’re still creating the space in which you do belong. The people that don’t seem to understand you, the places that don’t feel quite like your own, will one day feel like small pieces of the puzzle that you’re building the edges of, right now. Breathe through those feelings and know that they exist not to destroy you, but to enable you to create you very own home, within your skin. In the meantime, here’s to the journey. Every single part of it. And the stories that you will tell. Oh, the stories. They’re going to be, quite simply, epic.

With all of my love, always,

Caitie x