There is a loneliness that has nothing to do with isolation. You can be connected to hundreds of people, immersed in communities that span the globe, and still feel profoundly homeless, not quite belonging anywhere, always partially elsewhere, inhabiting every space provisionally.

This is not about being locked out. This is about being let in everywhere, partially, with the understanding that leaving is always an option. Connection as buffet. Sampling without settling. The self as carry-on luggage.

In this episode, we sit inside that exhaustion. The distributed demand of partial presences. The guilt that pools in the gaps between communities. The terror of choosing because choosing means becoming someone specific. The recognition that provisional belonging is not a stage before home, it is the permanent condition now.

This is Fractured Self.

https://www.fracturedself.com