Fitting in. For a long time I tried to be the sort of person people liked. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really pass as normal, and ended up more akin to a cross between Sheldon, and the main character in the Lego movie.

I finally realised I didn’t actually care about fitting in. Instead I focused on becoming the best version of me I could. Centering myself and accepting my weirdness helped a huge amount.

Ammusingly, I now “fit in” far better than I ever did. I’ve gathered a collection of friends who match my vibe. People either think I’m weird, and back off (I don’t really care about those), or think I’m weird, and that that’s awesome. It turns out, my fellow weirdos are far more fun.

Hard work

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Marriage, having children.

I’m glad I have my kids, but I should have trusted myself that I’m not parent or spouse material.

It’s super silly, but eating a snack cake. I was a teenager, sitting on my couch at home and I was eating a snack cake, like Little Debbie’s, or Drake’s or something when I realized “this cake is awful.” It just didn’t taste good. Like, not that it went bad or stale, it just was crap. And then I realized I was just eating it to eat. It was purely empty calories. Made me a lot more cognizant of what I chose to eat.

Be cis

Goto college. Tried it out for a year. Went back to the work force. Good career now almost 20 years on

Join a Church. Go to college.

Identify as a woman.

I nearly got my ears pierced when I was 10, but right as I was about to go to my appointment I chickened out and I will be forever grateful. I didn’t really care for jewellery then I still don’t now. Piercings especially seem more annoying than anything to me.

It took until I was 16 for relatives to stop gifting me random pairs of earrings, though lol

Have relationships.

It’s far better being single.

Living

• getting married
• having kids
• Consuming animal products