Not one of us

For many years, I struggled to accept my own identity or even define it clearly. Growing up in a poor, post-war country, I resisted the label of “victim,” yet often felt that was how I was seen—from outside the EU, from a place marked by conflict, with a family scattered across different countries and friends who, like me, never stayed where we were born. I carried a deep sense of dislocation.

As I moved into more structured and stable environments, I began to feel like an outsider. I witnessed families that had stayed intact, friendships that remained rooted in one place, and I struggled with a persistent sense of being an imposter. Belonging felt distant—something complex and difficult to grasp.

It wasn’t until I turned inward and began to explore these feelings…By confronting the fractures in my past, I began to reclaim my narrative, piece by piece. (Masa)