Third Time's the Charm?

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of gender, sex, genitalia, presentation, and other things in regard to being a human.

How do you come out when you've come out already? To be honest, I've done it twice, and I like things in threes.

I'm non-binary, enby baybee! (NB, like non-binary, enby, get it? Whatever, I think it's fucking cute.)

Maybe you guys can relate, but I've always been the type of person to accept all the things, all the people of most of the walks of life... except when it applied to me. I hate most demographics I am, and it's not my fault either. Society has made us feel that we're not enough, no matter what, and the "enough" is an unobtainable standard that everyone talks about, but nobody really realizes how unrealistic it is.

With every modified body, with every picture-perfect view of sexuality and identity and gender and expression, it's so hard to view yourself in an accurate way. There's not a single person who is your twin that you will be able to see portrayed in a big way. You'll get similar things, you'll get representation, and we're working to make sure that we only continue to get more. But comparing yourself to a simple representation can be harmful, also.

You are who you are, and that's perfectly lovely, as long as you're not harming anyone or yourself. There are so many wonderful ways to exist now, there's so many ways to present as a person! And I know that at least the people I choose to surround myself with have been so accepting of everything, even if they don't exactly know what's going on. They're just trying to learn and love as they go.

I know not everyone has the privilege of being surrounded by such acceptance. But the first step is accepting yourself. There's not a person who doesn't deserve to look in the mirror and be able to smile at who they are and who they're becoming. You deserve to take positive influence in the representations you see around you, and use it to mold yourself into the best and most original version of yourself.

Personally, it took me a very long time to become comfy. I'm 25, and I feel like every time I take a step forward, it's four steps back as far as discovering who I am. I try to convince myself of certain things because it makes me feel better and more comfortable. But it's not true comfort if you're conforming because you feel like you have to. Sometimes people can't squeeze themselves into a box, and it's unfair to make them try. But after hearing the people around me, listening and learning, becoming more in tune with my body and what I prefer, and hearing other people ask assertively to be respected in their way, I realized that I was allowed to be respected in my way, too.

I am non-binary. I'm a pansexual binary human being. My preferred pronouns are they/them/theirs. I love my body and what I was born with, I like being effeminate, and honestly that's probably never going to change. But it's "non-binary" for a reason, yeah? I don't fit into SHIT, brother. And that's fine. I like myself most of the time, and I'm working on liking myself a little bit more every single day.