Ethan, every time I read something from you, I feel genuinely so proud of you! None of us are perfect but how you react to something and how you're willing to be open, change and constantly strive to be better is the real testament of a person. Many boys, I'm sure, relate to the feelings of your younger self, but unfortunately, most won't deal with those issues or even consider how that behaviour is problematic. You are genuinely such a good example for many men, and as a woman, I'm really appreciative of you writing about this!
Thank you so much. While writing this, I’ll be honest I was worried that you may not like it, but I knew I couldn’t soften it. So much changed thankfully, it means so much u read this. Thank you thank you 🥹💙
Very hard hitting and honest on the best way. I appreciate the non straightforward path to your growth with obsessiveness and lust. I think this is a important topic and often normalized to objectify or disregard a females perspective or decision to say "no" or to reject a guy. But vital we as people seek to change and intentionally see how we can improve for our own good too. 😄🩵 well explained storytelling. You're a good writer.
What I respect most about this piece is that you never tried to make your younger self innocent. You tried to make him understandable, and there's a huge difference.
I think a lot of people would have either buried this version of themselves forever or rewritten the story so they came out looking better. You didn't really do either. You admitted that some of the things you did crossed boundaries, that people got hurt, and that growth didn't erase that.
The line that stayed with me wasn't actually about lust. It was "separating feelings from actions." I think that's a distinction far more people need to hear. We don't always choose what we feel, but we are responsible for what we do with those feelings.
And I also appreciated that you didn't end this by asking for forgiveness. You simply acknowledged who you were, who you became, and the distance between those two people. That made this feel honest rather than performative. Really great piece.
Bless your big heart, thank you so much for sitting thru this piece it was so hard to write and at times I questioned if I’d suddenly lose everyone to the bad actions 😭 But you saw the point of this which is I’m not that guy anymore, regardless of if I don’t deserve respect for that time.
Thank you so much for reading this it genuinely made this five day effort of procrastinating and fearing retaliation worth it. Thank you thank you 😭😭😭😭😭😭💙💙💙💙
It is super impressive you were able to recognize male privilege benefiting you within your own life. I hadn’t thought of that until you mentioned it, but you’re right, it is definitely an issue on why things were allowed to happen the way they did. Thank you for sharing your story as it is definitely not isolated! Hopefully it can be a place for others to reflect and recognize things they have done to unintentionally hurt others. Also, I’ve read a few of your articles so far and they are all so well written!
An absolute honest post with true feelings right there! I'm just so happy you have evolved as a person and matured enough to handle your uncalled emotions. For me it was truly a unique read as it face me the much needed insight into a male's perspective and they view situations that we female mostly finds problematic. I hope you keeping maturing and soon would find your lady luck with whom you would be able to share pure love with!
Grateful I could share that perspective, and thank you for reading! It means a lot and it was difficult to write. And yeah, I need lady luck pretty bad haha 😆 I appreciate this commenttt
Ethan, every time I read something from you, I feel genuinely so proud of you! None of us are perfect but how you react to something and how you're willing to be open, change and constantly strive to be better is the real testament of a person. Many boys, I'm sure, relate to the feelings of your younger self, but unfortunately, most won't deal with those issues or even consider how that behaviour is problematic. You are genuinely such a good example for many men, and as a woman, I'm really appreciative of you writing about this!
Thank you so much. While writing this, I’ll be honest I was worried that you may not like it, but I knew I couldn’t soften it. So much changed thankfully, it means so much u read this. Thank you thank you 🥹💙
Definitely yea
Glad you were able to open up and not feel so hidden in these memories/ feelings. Journaling really is helpful plus talking to a trusted older person.
Very hard hitting and honest on the best way. I appreciate the non straightforward path to your growth with obsessiveness and lust. I think this is a important topic and often normalized to objectify or disregard a females perspective or decision to say "no" or to reject a guy. But vital we as people seek to change and intentionally see how we can improve for our own good too. 😄🩵 well explained storytelling. You're a good writer.
It takes courage to share your past experiences, so thank you for writing such a personal, powerful piece.
It means the world that you read this. Thank you, u didn’t have to 💙
What I respect most about this piece is that you never tried to make your younger self innocent. You tried to make him understandable, and there's a huge difference.
I think a lot of people would have either buried this version of themselves forever or rewritten the story so they came out looking better. You didn't really do either. You admitted that some of the things you did crossed boundaries, that people got hurt, and that growth didn't erase that.
The line that stayed with me wasn't actually about lust. It was "separating feelings from actions." I think that's a distinction far more people need to hear. We don't always choose what we feel, but we are responsible for what we do with those feelings.
And I also appreciated that you didn't end this by asking for forgiveness. You simply acknowledged who you were, who you became, and the distance between those two people. That made this feel honest rather than performative. Really great piece.
Bless your big heart, thank you so much for sitting thru this piece it was so hard to write and at times I questioned if I’d suddenly lose everyone to the bad actions 😭 But you saw the point of this which is I’m not that guy anymore, regardless of if I don’t deserve respect for that time.
Thank you so much for reading this it genuinely made this five day effort of procrastinating and fearing retaliation worth it. Thank you thank you 😭😭😭😭😭😭💙💙💙💙
I honestly think the fear came through in the writing, and that's probably why it felt genuine.
You weren't asking people to erase what happened. You were just refusing to hide from it anymore.
That's a very different thing.
I'm really glad you decided to publish it. I imagine it felt like dropping a weight you've been carrying around for a long time.
It is super impressive you were able to recognize male privilege benefiting you within your own life. I hadn’t thought of that until you mentioned it, but you’re right, it is definitely an issue on why things were allowed to happen the way they did. Thank you for sharing your story as it is definitely not isolated! Hopefully it can be a place for others to reflect and recognize things they have done to unintentionally hurt others. Also, I’ve read a few of your articles so far and they are all so well written!
An absolute honest post with true feelings right there! I'm just so happy you have evolved as a person and matured enough to handle your uncalled emotions. For me it was truly a unique read as it face me the much needed insight into a male's perspective and they view situations that we female mostly finds problematic. I hope you keeping maturing and soon would find your lady luck with whom you would be able to share pure love with!
Grateful I could share that perspective, and thank you for reading! It means a lot and it was difficult to write. And yeah, I need lady luck pretty bad haha 😆 I appreciate this commenttt
I appreciate your hardwork and sincerity ❣️