Still Searching for my Corner of the Sky

I post a lot of motivational quotes on my social media sites and receive messages from people, thanking me for being so thoughtful.

I’m glad they get enjoyment and inspiration from  my posts, but in reality, I’m not posting those quotes for them. I’m posting them for myself.

I’ve struggled with dark moods all of my life, and always felt as though I didn’t belong; not in my family, not in my school, not even with my friends. I felt like the proverbial “bump on a log,” never quite fitting in, never quite getting the joke, or getting it hours, days or even years later. Case in point: in junior high school, a classmate signed my yearbook, “To a black-haired blonde.” I didn’t understand what he meant at the time. Nearly four decades later, I came across his message while thumbing through the yearbook and it finally hit me: HE THOUGHT I WAS AN AIRHEAD. And like an airhead, I had no clue.

Oh, I know I’m smart enough. Okay, maybe I’m more savvy than smart. I have street smarts and maybe a smidge of common sense. I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, so maybe less than a smidge of common sense. I’ve lived a fairly charmed life and my career spans stints in the recording industry, public relations and broadcast news. I never underwent special training for the jobs I had; I picked them up intuitively and always met people who (knowingly and unknowingly) helped me succeed at each position. I made friends along the way, but still felt as though I didn’t “belong.”

When I dabbled in community theater while living in Hunstville, Alabama, I had the good fortune to be cast as Fastrada in the musical “Pippin.” I didn’t know much about the show before I auditioned but was told my vocal style would fit the role, so I tried out. After the cast was selected, we got together as a group and watched a VHS version of the Broadway show, starring Chita Rivera as Fastrada, Ben Vereen as the Narrator, and William Katt as Pippin. When I heard his song, “Corner of the Sky,” for the first time, my heart ached and tears poured down my face. This song perfectly described how I’d been feeling since I could form thoughts.

Nearly 25 years have passed since that experience, and while I’ve achieved success in my work and have a loving family, I still feel as though I don’t belong anywhere. Sometimes, that feeling sparks a deep sense of loneliness that lingers for days, even weeks at a time. There’s no logical explanation. It’s been labeled “Depression,” and I’ve been given medication to “even things out,” but medication has never helped. It’s dampened things down, turned me into a zombie, left me able to cope but not feel.

Without medication, I feel very deeply, sometimes too deeply. I try to plaster on a smile (grimace) and embrace the routine that is my day. All the while, my brain works overtime, peppering me with criticism and blowing even the smallest mistake out of proportion (MISTAKE = FAILURE). 

Meanwhile, my heart still yearns to belong somewhere.