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Coming out as gay may seem like an everyday occurrence now. But nope. Still a big deal. Here's why.

Let's walk through what it was like for Ingrid Nilsen.

The emotional confession at the end of this piece may not seem like a huge issue for some. But it's still crucial for people to see and share it. Here's why.

People come out as gay every day, it may seem. Some people might think we should all be over it by now.


GIF from "Supernatural."

But being openly gay is a relatively recent concept and some people still struggle with it.

When I say "struggle," I mean they deeply, deeply doubt themselves through very important formative years. They try all kinds of ways to not be gay (which of course doesn't work) because being gay in this society still is not a bed of roses, and they are afraid of the repercussions in their lives.

Sometimes they make it through that questioning phase, like Ingrid did. But other times they don't.

Suicide is a very real outcome for many who struggle to accept their own sexual and gender identity.

Stats from the Center for Disease Control.

Or other times they go an entire lifetime never being true to who they are, going through the motions of a life they think will make them "normal."

Sometimes people repress it so deeply that they try to condemn and legislate away the gay for everyone else.

Image used via Public Domain/ND State government.

These reasons and so many more are why young people deserve to see this young woman discuss what she went through.

You never know how you might affect someone's life by sharing this. Sometimes we see just the right thing just when we need it.

All photos courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company

Behind the Scenes Making Recycled Records with Mark Ronson

True

You’re walking down the sidewalk, earbuds in, listening to your favorite hip-hop beats. As your head bobs to the sounds, the sun warms your back. It’s a perfect day.

When the chorus hits, the empty Sprite bottle in your hand becomes a drumstick, passing traffic becomes a sea of concertgoers, and the concrete beneath your feet is suddenly a stage. Spinning on your heels, you close out the song with your face to the sky and hands in the air.

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Pop Culture

People are loving Drew Barrymore's live reaction to her first perimenopause hot flash

“I don’t know that I have ever heard a celebrity talk about a hot flash in the moment. Thank you for being so real."

The Drew Barrymore Show/Youtube

Drew Barrymore getting a quick assist from Jennifer Aniston

It feels safe to say that many, if not most people hail Drew Barrymore as the “Queen of Candid.” She can seemingly talk to absolutely anyone about anything in a way that’s consistently warm and authentic.

That even goes for when she experiences her first hot flash in front of a live television audience, apparently.

While speaking with guests Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler on her talk show, Barrymore abruptly appears flustered, fanning herself and removing her jacket.

Without missing a beat, she says, “I am so hot, I think I'm having my first perimenopause hot flashes.”
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@elll.rose/TikTok

Secondhand can be "just as stylish."

Ellie Rose had been walking by the window display of a nearby charity shop (a non-profit thrift store ala Goodwill or Salvation Army) in England when she was struck by an idea: Maybe they could use a “bit of help styling” in order to attract customers.

As a sustainablefashion influencer, the 22-year-old felt like she could infuse her knowledge of today’s trends into the mannequin outfits, hopefully showing people that "buying secondhand can be just as stylish as buying new."

Rose reached out to several different stores offering to help for free, and many accepted. A viral clip posted to her TikTok shows how she worked her fashion magic to give the mannequins a complete makeover. Spoiler alert—it’s a complete 180.

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@penslucero/TikTok

Pency Lucero taking in the Northern Lights

Seeing the northern lights is a common bucket list adventure for many people. After all, it ticks a lot of boxes—being a dazzling light show, rich historical experience and scientific phenomenon all rolled into one. Plus there’s the uncertainty of it all, never quite knowing if you’ll witness a vivid streak of otherworldly colors dance across the sky…or simply see an oddly colored cloud. It’s nature’s slot machine, if you will.

Traveler and content creator Pency Lucero was willing to take that gamble. After thorough research, she stumbled upon an Airbnb in Rörbäck, Sweden with an actual picture of the northern lights shining above the cabin in the listing. With that kind of photo evidence, she felt good about her odds.

However, as soon as she landed, snow began falling so hard that the entire sky was “barely visible,” she told Upworthy. Martin, the Airbnb host, was nonetheless determined to do everything he could to ensure his guests got to see the spectacle, even offering to wake Lucero up in the middle of the night if he saw anything.

Then one night, the knock came.

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Baby Cora bears a striking resemblance to actor Woody Harrelson.

We can all get a little fascinated by doppelgängers and it's fun to find people who look alike. But what do you do when your baby girl looks uncannily like a famous middle-aged man?

Mom Dani Grier Mulvenna shared a photo of her infant daughter Cora side by side with a photo of Woody Harrelson on Twitter, with the caption "Ok but how does our daughter look like Woody Harrelson." The resemblance truly is remarkable, and the tweet quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, shares and replies.

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Education

Unearthed BBC interview features two Victorian-era women discussing being teens in the 1800s

Frances 'Effy' Jones, one of the first women to be trained to use a typewriter and to take up cycling as a hobby, recalls life as a young working woman in London.

Two Victorian women discuss being teens in the 1800s.

There remains some mystery around what life was like in the 1800s, especially for teens. Most people alive today were not around in the Victorian era when the technologies now deemed old-fashioned were a novelty. In this rediscovered 1970s clip from the BBC, two elderly women reminisce about what it was like being teenagers during a time when the horse and buggy was still the fastest way to get around.

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via Pexels

Parents who just can't stop fighting

Whitney Goodman, a licensed marriage and family therapist, shared a video about kids who grew up in homes where their parents were always fighting, which made many people feel seen. It also started a conversation about who deserves more empathy in the parent-child relationship: the parents or the children.

Goodman is known as the “radically honest” psychotherapist and the author of “Toxic Positivity: Keeping it Real in a World Obsessed with Being Happy.”

"If you grew up in this kind of house, you may have noticed that your family would split off into different alliances or teams to try to manage the material discord. Because the marriage wasn't a good or safe foundation for the family, everybody else had to kind of go and form these new teams,” Goodman explained in an Instagram post.

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