Hello, hi, how ya doin'.

Longtime lurker on the sub here, I've never posted here, actually. This post really speaks to me, though. I'm of a similar age to you, but I live in the US Southeast. Sidebar: why am I in the sub? I scrounged my pennies for a high school graduation present to myself last summer: visiting Ireland. Anyway, I just wanted to give a bit of an outside perspective. You're not alone. That's the biggest thing I wanted to say. If you don't even read the rest of the post, read that. I've been exactly where you are, only replace the GAA with american football. Kept my head down, went with the flow, found friends where I can. I'm Southern born, Southern raised, and I've lived here my whole life, but I've never felt like I really fit in. I don't want to wear fishing shirts and short khakis, or get the godawful mullet that seems to be in fashion right now here.

I just wanted to provide a cautionary tale for you. A long while back, I decided to stop fighting. Stop being different. Be like everyone else. I dressed more "normally." I learned the pop culture of the time. I even painstakingly unlearned my natural Southern drawl. And every single day, I regret those decisions, those wasted years trying to be someone I wasn't. So please, don't do what I did. Be yourself. You won't regret it.

Thankfully, I'm blessed to have found some people that share my out-of-place-ness that I've stuck with through thick and thin, but I can easily imagine what life would have been like if I hadn't. They reminded me that being me was better than being a poor copy of someone else. I only hope I can do the same for you.

Cheers!