Truth be told, this stage of life is hard. One minute your parents, teachers, or the so-called ‘real adults’ are running the show, and the next you’re expected to step onto the main stage as one of them - as if there were a secret adulting handbook handed round and yours got lost somewhere in the post…

Here’s the thing: being accepting isn’t the same as being affirming. Acceptance can feel passive; it says: ‘I’ll be okay with who you are’. Affirmation, on the other hand, is active and alive. It says: ‘I see you, I celebrate you, and I stand beside you’.

Let’s break it down together.