đźš« What it means to have grown up with systemic discrimination based on your family's identity
Growing up with systemic discrimination meant learning that the world had already decided who you could be before you'd even figured out who you wanted to become.
You may have experienced social stigma and discrimination that followed you from childhood into adulthood through workplace exclusion, educational barriers, and social rejection. Unlike other childhood wounds that heal over time, this wound of unbelonging never really stopped—it simply evolved and found new ways to manifest. You learned to embrace being different and outside the group rather than risk more rejection by trying to fit into spaces that never welcomed you.
You may have found your people—fellow outsiders who carry that same knowing look of someone who's been marginalized and scapegoated. There's profound comfort in relationships where you don't have to explain yourself or make excuses for your differences. But this protective strategy can also limit your world to smaller and smaller circles, as you write off potential connections before they've had a chance to truly know you, believing that only people like you could ever love you.