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Everyone grows up with something that makes them feel 'different.'

Adversity can help us develop resilience.

Self-acceptance should be encouraged in everyone.

Now that baseball season is opening, I'm finding myself once again reminded of my deficiencies.

Let me take you back to the year 1981. At a large family gathering, the group decided it would be fun to play a game of baseball together—and as soon as they did, my heart sank. After all, I was already in college and no longer had to submit to the torture of gym class! And suddenly now I’m in a large field playing baseball? How can I escape this?

Growing up gay—but not knowing it—meant I knew I was different, and it was also made clear to me that my difference wasn't okay. I wasn't the boy I was supposed to be—according to my classmates, my father, my grandfather, and my neighbors. I wasn't engaged in sports or any of the things most guys my age were doing. I felt ashamed, self-conscious, and weak. My life was spent overcompensating for feeling different, for feeling self-conscious; I was constantly hoping to somehow “get in under the wire.” I privately felt this sense of not belonging (though of course I never articulated it to anybody, least of all myself) and experienced shame as a result;........

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