Belonging becomes conformity when we are expected to erase what makes us distinct.
Field Notes
They gather without knowing how alike they appear from the outside. Each carries the same few colors, but no two wear them in exactly the same way.
Conformity asks us to hide those differences so we can be more easily accepted. It teaches us to copy the group instead of becoming fully ourselves. But belonging was never meant to require duplication. We can share a world, a history, even a recognizable shape—and still remain unmistakably our own.