I had a pretty miserable childhood, so I actually weirdly like being an adult. Don’t get me wrong, I’m frequently miserable now, and often drowning under chronic stress that my childhood self couldn’t have even conceived. At least I’m living a life that’s my own now though. It’s amazing what a bit of agency can do to help you cope.

And even though that stress is often borne of things beyond my control, as an adult, I have the opportunity to find other people who are suffering under the same or similar systemic oppressions as I am. Sometimes this can lead to being able to make some small, concrete changes with the system, but most of the time, it just makes me feel less alone. I was a very lonely child, and one of the things that allowed me to break out of that was the freedom of adulthood.