Do everything I can to remember what it was like when I was young. Try to remember the feeling of confusion and dread. The feeling of being the only smart person in the room. The feeling that if only they would listen, really listen, they’d get it. The feeling of determination that I wasn’t going to be like that when I got old.

Now I’m old and I know it’s not my world. It’s not my place to dictate to youth how to feel, act, think, behave, or grow. I try to just listen. It’s their world and I’m just kind of still around. They want me to not say certain words or use pronouns because it makes it better for them? Yeah, I can do that. That’s easy. Being young in a changing world is brutal. I know. I was there. I was in a changing world where our parents used horrible words to describe classmates and friends. I was there when AIDS was a joke on TV. It was confusing. People I knew just wanted to be treated as people.

So now, I just listen. I adopt by letting people tell me how they want to be treated. I can do that. I can take their word for it. That’s easy. Being young in a world of crusty, loud, old, bitchy people telling you how wrong you are? That’s the hard part. If I can make it easier for them by just listening? That’s how I adopt.

I just isolate myself more.

Try to keep meeting new/younger people and look at/listen to new media.

Most things don’t change overnight, so you won’t have to make a giant leap right away.

Try to have an open mind, and hope others will do the same since I’m not likely to change much.