1. Ever since you were a child, you've felt that you were different from the rest of your family.
2. You've never been the stud or the girly girl.
3. While your cousins wanted to straighten and braid their hair, you wanted to dye yours red and wear wacky hairstyles.
4. In gym class, you could be seen from a mile away, always screwing up everything you did.
5. Family dinners tend to go downhill pretty quickly when you're around.
6. Like, for example, politics. It's like the smell of food sets off a chemical reaction in their brains that encourages political debate.
7. Dinner time is also apparently the perfect time for your family to tell you everything that you *should* be doing with your life.
8. Everything turns into an argument in your house. Even the food. If your family likes healthy food, you're the only one who eats like a child.
9. If your whole family listens to country music, without a doubt, you're the only punker.
10. Or the only rocker.
11. Or the goth.
12. And at some point in your life, you must have exclaimed in exasperation: "No, mom. It's not just a phase. This is ME!!!"
13. If your whole family is totally religious, you either follow a religion that's very different from their own, or you don't follow any religion at all.
14. While all the other women in your family got married in a white gown, you envision your future wedding attire a bit differently.
15. You're still the only one who hasn't introduced your boyfriend or girlfriend to the family.
16. And, if you have ever introduced a significant other to your family, they instantly became the main topic of conversation in your house, either because they're too old, their hair is too long, or they're covered in tattoos.
17. If you're part of a conservative family, they get all shocked when they meet your gay or lesbian friend for the first time.
18. And if all of your cousins study sciences, you're the only one studying the humanities.
19. When your family has company coming over, you go out of your way not to answer the door.
20. Your old high school friends never stop posting pictures of their weddings, honeymoons, and kids.
21. Usually, everyone gets sleepy and goes to bed shortly after watching some post-dinner TV... except for you, who likes to stay up until all hours of the night, like a vampire.
22. In the family group message, you're the only one not participating all the time, because you turned off the notifications for the group a loooooooong time ago.
23. But the good side of all this is that you've never felt the need to be anyone or anything that you're not.
24. Because, deep down, the pride you take in being different is what gives you a reason to live.
This post was translated from Portuguese.