Growing up, I listened to my friends tell me of alcohol, clubbing & pedestalizing women; "if you don& #39;t do these things right now, they will catch you in adulthood". Here I am today. I have never been to a club, never done alcohol, & I am quite alright. I live in my reality.

People try to impose their realities onto you; try to make you feel inadequate for being who you are comfortable with. I ask the same people today: "why were you doing all that?" Their answer, "I don& #39;t know, man. I didn& #39;t even like it". So then, why are you afraid of being you?

It& #39;s alright if you do all that: alcohol, cheating (moral poverty), & clubbing. It& #39;s your reality, & it& #39;s okay. But stop trying to convince other people that their aversion for the same is a deformity which will be punished later in adulthood. You don& #39;t need henchmen to matter.

Learn this. There are no mandatory phases in life. One can be mature by 20, and another a thoroughgoing buffoon by 40. You shape your reality, by embracing things and people who make you happy, Make you comfortable, Make you feel safe: Make you grow. Do you, I& #39;ll do me.

Same individuals who embraced dysfunctional alcoholism then, are the same ones who do the same today; cheated then, still cheat in marriage. Slept with married men then, can& #39;t believe there are good men if you stood on your head. It& #39;s not about phases, it& #39;s about you.

And especially for men, if you don& #39;t learn to beat your own path, you will spend your entire life servicing other people& #39;s joys, ambitions & proclivities; At the expense of your masculinity & self-actualization. Do that which brings you functional joy. You matter to you first.