I’m just here to try to reach the geeky kids, maybe LGBTQIA, maybe alt, maybe on the spectrum, maybe just a little weird - and tell them that you can be 40 and have a Star Wars living room, and you can decide to not have kids and still have a life full of meaningful relationships and not regret it at all, and you can be a gamer and learn work skills from it, and you can be single but still do everything and travel the planet, you can be covered in tattoos and piercings and still be a successful business leader & public speaker, you can know trans rights are human rights and still be retired from the military, you can do whatever you want to as long as you show up every day and put in the work and put up a good fight - don’t let the people around you, society, your family, crappy friends, lousy spouses, what “they” told you, or the entropy of it all drag you down. Life can be really unfair, but learn your own personal battles, find your own family, and find meaning in the goofy world.
@hacks4pancakes 🥲 beautifully said! Here’s to the weird and crazy ones - you’re normal in good company!
@hacks4pancakes I do not think to could be said any better.

@hacks4pancakes beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I couldn't have said it any more eloquently.

It took me a long time to figure some of this out for myself.

@emag it takes too long
@hacks4pancakes yes, yes it does. Which is why it needs to be said often.
@hacks4pancakes All fine. But perhaps think twice about travelling the planet. Remember #ClimateEmergency and maybe consider exploring by train or boat. They'll both take you far ...
#Climate
@ORIOliver I do it for a living, but I do concur.
@hacks4pancakes All fine. But perhaps think twice about travelling the planet. Remember #ClimateEmergency and maybe consider exploring by train, bus or boat. They'll all take you far ...
#Climate

@hacks4pancakes So very much this! All of it.

Now I have to go and play "People like Us" really loud.

People Like Us https://g.co/kgs/ZdW8aD

Before you continue to Google Search

@hacks4pancakes you’re a super rad person who embodies the “lead by example” mentality. You inspire me on multiple levels. Thanks for being you! 💜
@hacks4pancakes dude I'm 42 and have two cats and no kids and watch MMA fights and write stuff most nights and it's awesome. (actually you got me started so thanks!)
@hacks4pancakes as a person that fits a lot of that description, yes, you definitely can.
@hacks4pancakes I am 39 and I love my fandoms and posters and action figures and writing fan fic etc - and I therefore second every word of this.
@hacks4pancakes this! I recently started working real hard to achieve who I truly want to become. 27, trans and a full on geek; and since starting my journey I have felt free and happy.
@hacks4pancakes still one of my favorite XKCDs https://xkcd.com/150/
Grownups

xkcd

In other words, Know Thyself. Set healthy relationship boundaries. You have but one life to live, live it naturally and openly, and kindly. Never fear or cower before the judgment and prejudice of others.

@hacks4pancakes

@BurningGiraffe @hacks4pancakes Know Thyself and Accept Thyself. Taking responsibility and being dependable person makes you adult, no need to larp it by building a boring facade and stopping doing things you love and enjoy. Adulthood is not a uniform (or a straitjacket). You don't wear it, you *are* it when need be. And if you can be adult when necessary, you can also relax.

It's fine to choose a life that looks like yours and not someone else's.

Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.

@hacks4pancakes all that, plus they invented my favorite pants. Fucking legendary
@hacks4pancakes This is actually beautiful, thank you ❤️
@hacks4pancakes
​ That's the joy of finding oneself. To figure out what makes US happy! Not doing what society or what others have predetermined our lives to be, but to be true to our own happiness. Our OWN TRUE BLISS!
@hacks4pancakes I can assure you from my own experience that you can do (most of) that a decade later, too.
@hacks4pancakes I'm newly 46 and just now trying to figure out how to live life as the actual me instead of the mask I've created.

@jerry @hacks4pancakes just saw the Verified Paw icon!

@jerry am loving the space.

So much better than birdsite!

@hacks4pancakes I love this. More than 50 years old, and still play RPGs every week with friends, look at the world in a slightly askew way, and feel no need to change.
@hacks4pancakes I love this post so much. Thank you.
@hacks4pancakes the one main lesson I’ve learned over my almost 50 laps of our star is that everyone gets their own box and you don’t have to join ppl in theirs. Make your own space and be happy in it. Toxic people, family or not don’t have to be let into your space. We all get one shot at this game and it’s to short to be miserable. 🍻
@hacks4pancakes truth. Had a dreadful state school education in the 80s but Just turned 50, autistic, happily married, weigh same I did when 18, play video games, make them for a living, always done what I wanted and not let myself be afraid of not trying . Even tho everything is terrifying.
@hacks4pancakes I’m still learning this at 40—but it’s nice to hear someone else say it!

@hacks4pancakes Thank you Lesley. You have been an inspiration since we first spoke on the birdsite.

For everyone else, if you had difficult times early on, dropped out of school, had addiction issues, have no education in the direction you now want to go in.

You can still do everything Lesley said and more.

The most important thing one can do in life is to accept yourself. Be as genuinely you as you can safely, and good people will find you.

@drahcir_rahl @hacks4pancakes and learn and read. Educate yourself. Use the library. Use the lectures on, for example, https://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses.
1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities

Take online courses from the world’s top universities for free. Below, you will find 1,700 free online courses from universities like Yale, MIT, Harvard, Oxford and more. Note: This page includes a lot of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Open Culture
@hacks4pancakes yeah as a 44 year old to at lives a completely different sort of lifestyle…this be true kids of all ages. Be yourself and find your own groove. 🌈🪴❤️😘
@hacks4pancakes
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make
@hacks4pancakes This is 103% of the whole point of life. You embracing your own unique inner Outrageous, is what adds that invaluable 3%.
@hacks4pancakes my back feels better when I sleep with a body pillow and my body pillow is uhhhh a daki of Loona and my new partner is fully supportive of this grown-ass man sleeping with a loona daki. Life can be wonderful.
@hacks4pancakes This is beautiful, and may I add, You can find the family you deserve too.