Authors On Belonging: Ritu Bhasin
"Belonging" may seem like a benign topic, but the fundamental need to truly belong to a community impacts our physical and mental health.
I am not, admittedly, an expert on this topic. My new memoir, A Little Off. Always On., is a collection of essays that highlights my journey of how I tuned into a more authentic self.
However, I wanted to understand "belonging" from a more objective perspective. Call it the aspiring academic in me. I knew my memoir would be deeply personal, but I explored a framework of “what the experts say” to jump-start my writing process and. . . well. . .answer a few of my own questions.
What is the difference between professionalism and inauthenticity in a workplace environment?
Why was acceptance and fitting in so important when I was young?
How are "belonging" and "fitting in" the same? How are they different?
In this series, I’ll highlight the people who informed my answers and shaped my stories. Please note that I don’t have a relationship with these authors and experts. I found their information interesting and informative. I hope you do too.
Ritu Bhasin is a speaker, author, leadership, and inclusion specialist at bhasin consulting inc., based in Toronto, Canada.
More than a year ago, I read her first book, The Authenticity Principle: Resist Conformity, Embrace Differences, and Transform How You Live, Work, and Lead, to decode my own barriers to authenticity. I related to her descriptions of “Your Authentic Self,” “Your Adapted Self” and “Your Performing Self.” I related as an employee and recognized moments in which I adapted who I was (in unnecessary ways) to feel more accepted in office culture or team. Bhasin provided frameworks that helped articulate complicated feelings that I have inexpertly discussed more than once with colleagues and friends during a post-work happy hour or impromptu 1:1 call.
Bhasin also delves into recommendations on how leaders can encourage authenticity within organizations with regard to cultural, ethnic and religious inclusiveness or mental health and wellness.
PLOT TWIST: Bhasin ALSO has a NEW book due out in June, and it’s also about belonging.
In We’ve Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging, Bhasin’s new book is described as “a much-needed guidebook on how to heal, thrive and stand in your power in the face of hate and hardships.” She reveals how to unlock belonging so that you can live your best – personally and professionally.
Bhasin organizes her book around the path to belonging, which includes the (deceivingly simple looking) three steps:
1) Hurting
2) Healing
3) Belonging
So, if you’d like a deep dive into authenticity, empowerment, and belonging, make some room on your bookshelf for Bhasin's books. I promise they belong there.