I think it is damn hard to have a conversation with yourself and say, this is who I am. We are put into boxes in this world. People tell us that we need to act and behave a certain way. Love a certain way. This is society and the importance to fit in has always been something to strive for just to have some peace in your life.

But we are not all the same.

-SailorJ

We come from different backgrounds, genders, races, ethnicities, cultures, identities. And yet we are funneled into the homogeny that says we all are the same.

I have lived the life of conformity. You learn to speak in a certain way. Walk in a certain way. You are focused to get married, get a house, have kids, the dog and cat and goldfish. I escaped from some of that, but something inside me has always said that I’m different.

I believe that we all go through moments in our lives when we think maybe our calling, our direction should be one way. When we look back as I can do now, it is crazy to think how my life would have been different if I followed another path. If I did not have the burden of society and what others said and thought driving me away from my authentic self.

Acceptance is so important to allowing people to be their authentic self. We are living at a time in the world where people have had the opportunity to explore and be themselves and in a blink of an eye, the world changed and tried to take away the individuals right to be who they are and love who they want.

Society plays a role in an individual’s ability to be who they were meant to be. Even just allowing someone to exist without fear is a very important thing. People need to be able to exist in the comfort of their own skin and in their own mind. When they are, they are the most productive and their love is at its highest.