Brown Video Portfolio | Class of 2025 RD

UPDATE: I ultimately was waitlisted by Brown and am now studying at Pomona College!

Belonging is a bit of a sappy topic, but I feel like it's important to talk about, especially with a metric of success so ambiguous. In essence, belonging isn't something inherently found in things we do or aspire to be, but rather in the relationships we build along the way.

The late Maya Angelou puts it best: "You are only free when you realize you belong no place—you belong every place—no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”

If this sounds like complete mumbo jumbo to you, don't worry, it didn't make much sense to me either until I thought of the message in terms of criticism on the types of motivation we choose to use as fuel—more specifically, criticism on extrinsic motivation. Generally, it's impossible to not care about what others think about you, and it can be difficult to grasp the negative effects of overthinking when you're trying to not look or feel out of place. But this awkward thought-trap of feeding ourselves stories with unverifiable truths compels us to look for superficial belonging. That is the complete opposite of freedom.

The high price Maya Angelou mentions speaks to the challenge of both letting go of sources of extrinsic motivation and shifting our mindsets to find motivation intrinsically—setting personal goals and conquering the bars we set for ourselves, one step at a time. The reward comes when we accept that pain is not a metric for effort, and that belonging no place, building our confidence on a foundation of supportive relationships rather than relying on the commendation of others, is the only way we can belong to ourselves and be okay with what we make of life or what life makes of us.

To close, belonging to ourselves can mean a lot of things—being comfortable with who we are, understanding a different way of thinking about something, setting goals and being fulfilled by our own passions—and there is no right or wrong answer. My interpretation doesn't do justice to Maya Angelou's words, but I hope this helps—and by "helps", I mean either it clears up something about the theme of belonging, or it confuses you enough to want to dig into it some more.

Regardless of where you stand or how you feel about this topic, I hope you enjoy the video and can find some value through my repackaged interpretation of Maya Angelou's message on belonging!