Some Random Thoughts from my Trans Experience

Haters

As the saying goes, the haters are going to hate. And I really don’t care, to be honest. Life is too short to care about them, you know.

The thing is, people have different opinions about things all the time, and there are always going to be people who don’t like you. The important thing is, to cherish the people who love you, and the people who might one day come to be your friends.

Instead of caring about the haters, I think we should win over as many friends and supporters as possible. For every person who has decided that they don’t like you, there are many other people out there that you can potentially win over as new friends. Why dwell on the haters, when you can focus on potential friends?

Tribalism

Anywhere you go, there’s just too much tribalism out there these days. It turns everything into an us-vs-them fight, and makes people unable to rationally discuss anything. This means, ultimately, nothing gets resolved, and nothing gets done.

I think the best antidote to tribalism is a healthy dose of independent thinking. Don’t just believe what your peers say, or your supposed heroes tell you to believe. Follow your own conscience, and think about every issue carefully. You might come to some surprising conclusions.

Let’s Talk

To all the people out there who don’t like me, who don’t like what I represent, who don’t like what I say, I say, let’s talk. Let’s talk to see if we can resolve our differences. After all, disagreements often turn out to be misunderstandings, and opposing viewpoints can often be combined to form a new whole.

Besides, it’s often interesting and productive to talk with people who fundamentally disagree with you. You learn how to argue your own views, you learn new things, and you get to see a problem from different angles. Moreover, sometimes you get to make lifelong memories this way.

So, I guess, let’s talk!

Difference

Each of us is unique and different from each other, and I think that’s actually a great thing. After all, if we were all the same, life would be very boring indeed. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life.

Having people with different views to debate, or even argue with, gives our lives meaning. Making friends with people from different cultures allows us to understand how big and diverse and wonderful the world really is. And having a group of friends with different personalities makes life and friendships interesting.

Difference is great. Let’s embrace it.

TaraElla is a singer-songwriter and author, who recently published her autobiography The TaraElla Story, in which she described the events that inspired her writing.