We all belong here.

This is a project I worked on in my first year of uni as an 18 year old. I was still confused about why I hadn’t made any friends, and why I was struggling so much. I found that the assignments I thrived in involved working with my family, and exploring my family dynamics through artwork. I wouldn’t have made it through uni if it wasn’t for the relationships I had with my immediate family.

There are moments where I’m met with the shock of others expectations for me to be fully independent and self-sufficient, or even my own. In these moments, it can feel like I have no other option but to step off an unknown ledge – without certainty that I will be able to support or catch myself if there are no footholds. This feels daunting and lonely, and it feels unfair because it feels like I am being forced into a life of serving something else (capitalism, perhaps), without the security that it will support me back. I don’t want to be reliant on my family forever, but in becoming less so, at this time in my life, there feels like much uncertainty about whether I can actually achieve this whilst still living the life I want – for my health and my sanity.

I was 19
When I cut ties with the people who raised me
Not because I stopped loving them
But because loving them meant losing me.

Everyone says
"You're so brave"
But no one talks about the loneliness
That comes after survival.

I sat in rooms full of people
And still felt like a ghost.
The world moved forward
But I stayed stuck —
in grief, in silence,
in the ache of being
unseen.

I thought leaving would free me.
But it unstitched everything.
I was building a new life
With shaking hands
And no one to hold the blueprints.

There were nights I nearly gave up —
Not because I wanted to die
But because I didn’t know
how to live without a map.

But then—
Connection came in quiet ways.
A friend who stayed.
A puppy who trusted me.
Someone who didn’t walk away
when I let them see the real me.

And somewhere in that
I found my voice.

I spoke.
Not clean.
Not calm.
But real.

And it saved me.

Because loneliness doesn’t always mean being alone —
Sometimes it’s the silence
after you speak your truth
and wonder if anyone heard.

This is me telling you:
I hear you.
You’re not too much.
You’re not alone.

And your voice?
It might just be the beginning
of your way back.

Family , cousins, friends.
Seems like your social interactions , will never , end .
When you leave school, to stay in touch is no , rule .
Days spent , trying to distract, from the sadness of no friends to interact with .
Some people are , only using social media to connect , catching up face -to face , is something real they , need to accept .
Too , much on for people , too much for people to do .
The , loneliness therefore , affects you .

I wrote this song about my first “true” heartbreak. It explores the emotions and complexity of love from a particularly chaotic standpoint, caught in a battle of decisions with no clear answer. Is there peace in moving on? Is there courage in fighting to preserve? Will she open the door for me again?
*This song has some explicit words which are not censored. Take care when listening.*