This will be a thread. Thanks so much to Terry Pratchett and @neilhimself

So, way way back (almost 30 years back) a friend of mine was going to be donating his copy of Good Omens to the local book store. But then I said I hadn’t read it, so he gave it to me. https://twitter.com/thatericalper/status/1350179713105408004

It became my most beloved book in all of history. As soon as I finished reading it the first time, I flipped right back to page one and read it again. I have EASILY read this book over a thousand times. I’ve read this copy to pieces. I still have it, but it’s worn.

And the reason I love this book so much is because one of the characters, Sister Mary Loquacious, when she’s left to her own devices, decides that really all she can do in life is “be herself as hard as she can.”

That phrase, at that time in my life when I read it, was the most powerful impact on my life in ever. Just, it cleared up every doubt in my head about anything. Just be myself as hard as I can. Of course, duh, it seems so obvious.

But, I mean, we all know, society, our family, our friends, our jobs, they all put these expectations on who we should be that we feel obligated to fulfill, even if they aren’t really who we are.

And that was the first time I realized that I needed permission to be me. I needed someone to say, “bamm, it’s okay to be you, and in fact, that’s the only thing you should ever be, you should be you, whoever that turns out to be”

And recently on TikTok a creator I follow was describing their sexual orientation identity, which is what got me thinking about my gender identity, and again, it was a “is this okay? Am I allowed to be this person?” moment.

And for reals. YES. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BE YOU.

It’s the biggest impact a book has ever had on my life, and I will always always love both Terry Pratchett and @neilhimself for giving me the inspiration to just be me, as hard as I can.