When Radiohead sings, “One day I’m gonna grow wings,” in their song Let Down, it’s meaning is open to interpretation. I believe it’s less about escaping reality and more about finally seeing the sunshine, discovering the hope of belonging. To me, growing wings symbolizes finding home, embracing that sense of belonging, and feeling safe in your own skin
One day, I’m going to grow wings...
(find home, belong, feel whole).
The feeling of belonging is one of the strangest, most mysterious experiences in life that has ever crossed my path. It’s not something easily defined, as it takes on many forms and meanings, and yet, whether you feel it or don’t, it stays with you, clings to your soul, and slowly shapes your entire existence.
Belonging isn’t always tied to a physical place. Sometimes, “home” is a person, a city, or the smell of the air on a warm summer night, and sometimes, though more rarely, it’s something found deep within yourself.
But the harsh truth is that, in the brief time we’re given on this earth, some of us may never truly find that place, that person, or that version of ourselves where we feel completely safe, a place where our soul, heart, and body finally meet, and where we can finally feel whole.
On quiet nights, when the moon rests softly on my face, and the air feels light, I find myself wishing, wishing to find that place of belonging, wishing to finally feel safe, at ease, able to simply feel.
That longing quietly claws at the background of so many of our lives, hidden beneath the chaos, the traffic, the responsibilities, and the endless noise of the world.
And I think we’re all searching for that feeling, that moment of finally being home, believing it’s out there somewhere, breathing, waiting for us to find it, and I truly hope that every one of these lost souls finds the shore their heart has been aching for.