Mel's Manifesto


Most people keep at least a few versions of themselves on hands. The face they turn towards family, the face for friends, the face for work.

My versions are a bit more disparate than most in that some facets of who I am aren't welcome in the circles that other facets move in.

Or at least that's what I told myself for a long, long time.

I'm really fucking tired of it. I'm tired of tamping down my emotions in fear of offending someone I like, I'm tired of not speaking my mind because I don't want a fight, I'm tired of not being all of me all of the time.

Life is too complicated and too weird to be adding more complication in the name of avoiding conflict. What's worse is it's not even real conflict. It's either what I imagined or its conflict because someone else can't imagine a world in which someone breaks their long-held stereotypes or otherwise makes them think.

So I'm avoiding imaginary conflict, or conflict with morons.

How about I just write, and say, and act all of the ways I am all of the time? Wouldn't that be a tad bit simpler?

Oh, I'll still have to bite my tongue every now and then. Some things certainly don't belong out in public and I DO still have a custody case going on.

But the rest? Why do I give a fuck?

So here's my manifesto: all of me, all of the time.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because it will keep me from going insane. Because it's what I need to do.

All of me, all of the time.