Fitting in. For a long time I tried to be the sort of person people liked. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really pass as normal, and ended up more akin to a cross between Sheldon, and the main character in the Lego movie.
I finally realised I didn’t actually care about fitting in. Instead I focused on becoming the best version of me I could. Centering myself and accepting my weirdness helped a huge amount.
Ammusingly, I now “fit in” far better than I ever did. I’ve gathered a collection of friends who match my vibe. People either think I’m weird, and back off (I don’t really care about those), or think I’m weird, and that that’s awesome. It turns out, my fellow weirdos are far more fun.
Goto college. Tried it out for a year. Went back to the work force. Good career now almost 20 years on
It’s super silly, but eating a snack cake. I was a teenager, sitting on my couch at home and I was eating a snack cake, like Little Debbie’s, or Drake’s or something when I realized “this cake is awful.” It just didn’t taste good. Like, not that it went bad or stale, it just was crap. And then I realized I was just eating it to eat. It was purely empty calories. Made me a lot more cognizant of what I chose to eat.
Drinking alcohol. I never enjoyed it, but I used to have a beer when I was out just to fit in. Then I stopped because I realised it made me feel like crap, tasted bad and had no redeeming qualities. Now that I’m older I’m comfortable saying I don’t drink.
Be cis
Society doesn’t want people to be trans. In fact, it loves trying to get rid of us or subjugating us.