Member-only story
The Things I Believed Because Somebody Told Me To
And how I’m unlearning them on purpose
“You’re lazy.” “You’re difficult.” “You’re just trying to cause trouble.”
If I had a nickel for every time some adult told me any of the above (or similar) when I was growing up, I could buy the fancy espresso maker of my dreams and still have enough left over for a year’s supply of beans.
I heard it at ten when I preferred to stay inside reading or drawing instead of running around shrieking on the playground with other kids. I’d hear it again in my teens when I didn’t want to spend my summers taking more classes instead of actually enjoying my vacation.
And yes, I’d hear it some more (loudly) in my 20s and early 30s when I preferred freelancing or working on commission to the same shitty 9-to-5 hamster wheel everyone else seemed so excited about.
Eventually, I stopped questioning the verdict. “Lazy” and “troublemaker” were simply stamped on my mental passport in permanent ink, and I carried those labels everywhere I went. For years… decades, in some cases. Then one day, I realized maybe it’s not quite as simple as people want to make it.
No, I’m not willing or able to pull double shifts at some thankless job I never wanted in the first place. But I can write like my…
