We are in our forties, so we’ve learned the advantages of being true to ourselves, but you are young when “being yourself” is a slippery concept. It is so tempting to bend, to go along, to fake it. I know this. I remember. I always hated big crowds and loud parties, but I pretended to enjoy both. I wanted to be liked more than I wanted to be genuine. I wish I could go back and tell myself that it wouldn’t even matter, that my real friends liked the real me and they were the only ones who would stick.
