“[The best piece of advice I have received was] to let people do what they want. I think that would be the most impactful piece of advice I’ve ever been given, [by] my partner at the time. It’s something she would say a lot whenever I would get upset. Eighth grade to freshman year was that whole period where I was really judgy and had really strong opinions on things that I shouldn’t have. I was too much. I think if I met myself my freshman year, I would punch me in the face, but I think a lot of people would probably say that. I grew up in a household where [if] you’re a girl, you wear this and if you’re a dude, you wear that. And so all my ideas were just copy and pasted of [my family’s] ideas. It was just a preference that was embedded in my preteen years and that I ditched when I realized it was stupid. Look at me now. I’m not at all dressing stereotypically feminine. So I’d say that would be an example of gender roles and clothing being something I used to really be a badger on. Now I’m like whatever. I think [this advice] really helped me build character and become my true self. Because a lot of my judging people for what they were wearing was almost a projection of myself and being upset that I couldn’t wear what I wanted to wear because of the way that I was raised. [I] took it out on other people that were able to do what they wanted. Getting this advice to stay in your lane was just good [for me], I took it and now I’m living better.” – Mac Winter, 12