Elle28

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. It's overplayed, and as a show choir kid I've had to sing and dance to it a GAZILLION times over in Christmas shows. I do like Mariah Carey's voice, but there are so many songs that more accurately represent the holiday season. My favorites are anything by PTX (Mary, Did You Know gives me chills every time) and the whole Boney M. Christmas Album (Mary's Boy Child?? A BOP.) Also, one of my fave a Capella groups, Home Free, also has a new Christmas album out and it's amazing! (Especially Cold Hard Cash, Christmas in L.A and What We Need Is Love!) One Christmas song I can't stand is the First Noel. Being named Noelle is great, except when I meet any person, their automatic response is "Wait, like the first Noel?" Long story short, it gets annoying.

When I was little and my friends were all talking about growing up and getting married, my imagination painted the picture of me in this beautiful, flowing white dress with a bouquet of roses. But..... I always stood alone, no partner in sight. Also, picking people to "crush" on in junior hi that I knew would never show interest in me so I'd never have to worry about someone actually liking me.

So, I suppose the one good thing about COVID lockdowns and me being by myself all the time is that I think I solved the identity crisis I've been having for a while now. I identify as an aromantic grey-asexual, and I'm so happy that I found a label that fits. I'm excited that I can finally start living my truth and expressing who I am in a healthy and awesome way, without worrying about the amatonormativity I find myself very often trapped in. I have figured out what the heck has been going on in my head for the past couple of years, and it feels amazing. However, I know my family is going to be very unaccepting of me and my choice to change my sexuality labels. Since basically the start of my life, I have been told that growing up, getting married to a husband and having children is not an if, but a when. I started questioning those things about when I started high school (around 4 years ago), and didn't know what was wrong with me. Throughout high school, I definitely had "crushes" which I now have realized were actually squishes, because as soon as anything romantic started getting involved I was out of there. I also seemed to like people I knew I had no chance with for the sake of having a name to say when someone asked me who I was crushing on.... early signs? I think yes. Every time I have tried to bring my views up to my family (thus far, before changing my labels), I have gotten the "you'll find the right one someday" and "well, you're a little young to know just yet" spiels. I am a super family oriented person, and so knowing that my family might not accept me is absolutely terrifying. I straight up cried for hours yesterday after my grandmother asked me "Wow, do you have any friends who are normal like you?" and then proceeded to tell me "you know, I'm so happy you are the way that you are, not any of this LGBTQ+ stuff that you talk about. It's just so confusing and unnecessary and I cant imagine how these kids parents deal with it." My mom knew something was up with me after that and asked if I was alright, but I couldn't tell her anything because that would mean outing myself completely. I was wondering if I could get some advice on what to do at this point. I know that I can't just keep it hidden forever, but telling them outright isn't the way I want to go about it either. I even thought of pasting up pride flags all over my room and waiting for them to notice and be too uncomfortable to say anything and be forced to accept it, but again that's not it. Every one of my friends that I've come out to so far have been so kind and accepting, and it makes my heart sigh in relief to know that I am able to tell people who I trust about myself in that way. I want to tell my family, but I'm scared of invalidation and unacceptance and don't know what I'm doing. Any thoughts? Hope y'all are staying safe and healthy.

True! TPBM has been to Europe

First off, I'm glad I'm not the only aro who actually really enjoys reading, writing and watching romance in a fictional sense! It's definitely confuddling. I really enjoy YA Fantasy romance books, as cheesy as they can be sometimes. Some of my all time favorite series' that have a large romance plotline are Sarah J Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses (has since been moved into the NA category at the release of the upcoming book...) and Throne of Glass. I'm currently reading her newest book Crescent City and it's great so far, a tear jerker for sure! One of my other favorites that comes to mind is Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer's Between the Lines and its' sequel Off the Page. Really great somewhat fantast plotline but quite a bit of non-descriptive romance. ALSO I just finished Mary E Pearson's series The Remnant Chronicles and the three books in the trilogy are some of the best YA I've read (gotta love lots of love triangle action!). I do not find that my interest in romantic media has changed since realizing I'm aromantic. Actually, I think I find myself searching for it more because I just really enjoy the idea of it. Lots of reading/show watching has been done over quarantine since there really isn't anything else to do lol.

Yay! Another music nerd! I also ADORE Christmas and everything that comes with it, including music! I could only dream of being good enough at piano to do it in school... So nice to meet you, and I would totally be down to trade recipes and talk about baking!

So cool! I haven't heard of the last one but it sounds good!

I’m a HUGE YA Fantasy nerd! Basically, if it’s got fae, dragons, magic, or witchy stuff and is set in an awesome fictional world, I’m in. I recently have discovered I quite like historical fiction as well. What about you? Also, I love baking! Being a pastry chef would be so cool!

I’m Elle! (she/her) I’m 17 and have recently (after about a year of careful thoughts and self reflection) decided to label myself as an aromatic greysexual. Covid has basically flipped my life onto its ass and so my brain decided to go all “identity crisis” on me. I think I have resolved this crisis because I found a suitable label for what I think describes my feelings regarding attraction, despite not ever being in a committed romantic/sexual relationship. I decided to make an account because I really honestly am still kind of confused about everything. Although I feel like I fall on the ace spectrum somewhere, my aro side is what I recognized first and is definitely more prevalent. I would like to make some internet friends and get some advice from people who are aro but not necessarily completely ace. I’m a voice major who specializes in opera and I love discussing music in general. I find myself reading, writing and baking a lot too. I’ve received a very warm welcome from this community so far and it’s amazing to know there are people in this world who are like me and not judgemental about what I want in life. So happy to be here