Stripping away decades of “socialization” is a painful and difficult process. There are added layers if you’re born into a female body in a still-patriarchal world. Or gender-fluid in a still-binary frame. Or born a person of colour in a still-racist society. I imagine many of us die without making it. Depending on our circumstance, some of us can’t.

If you’ve somehow made it here though, I imagine that you’ve already spent a lifetime trying. Trying hard to heal. Trying to be good enough, trying to do it just right, trying not to make mistakes and trying to figure it all out.

Now for just a minute, stop trying. Hold hands with the little one who still gleefully runs through the sprinkler with her shirt off.

Let her guide you for a minute.

She knows the way.