#34 A Conversation With My 19 Year Old Son Marco
Kelly and her 19 year old son Marco share a dream. For all young people to feel free to love whomever they choose without feeling ashamed of who they were born to be. And that parents will not assume their child is straight so there won’t have to be a dramatic ‘coming out.’
In this conversation, Marco shares his story of normal life as a gay teenager. They speak about how fears of rejection can lead people who aren't straight to keep their sexual orientation secret, denying who they are and hiding an important part of themselves.
It is their hope that parents around the world listening to this conversation will have their minds and hearts opened. Please share this episode far and wide.
Let Kelly know what you think: hello@myprojectme.com
Read the Transcript for this Episode below:
Episode 34 of the project me podcast.
Hi, Marco. Good morning, Mom. Everyone used to call me Mom. Max called me Mom, and you called me Mom. Back in the days of the American School of Madrid. Yeah, you played baseball and basketball, and you loved hot dogs. You were like my little American son. It all changed when I came over here, crossed the pond, and now I'm British.
Yes, you certainly are. I thought I had one British son and one American son, but I've lost you both. Well, I'm probably gonna, I'm probably gonna end up bringing out my American side through speaking to you because that happens a lot. It's true. Yeah. It happens to me as well. When I, the more I hang out with American people, my accent becomes more American.
And if I hang out with English people, my accent becomes more British. Well, thank you for being only my third guest ever on the Project Me podcast. I know, who would have thought that a non, a non parent would be guest podcasting on a parenting podcast. Actually, my podcast, this goes to my next question, have you ever actually listened to my podcast?
I listened to one, one of them that you did on Tapping, I believe. Okay. And that's, that's because you showed it to me in its entirety. Okay. Well, did you ever listen to episode five where I talk about you being one of the UK's first hypnobirthing babies back in 2002? I remember you mentioned it, but I've not had the chance to, no.
Well, your birth was one of my greatest achievements. I overcame my deep fear of childbirth, and I had you at home with no pain relief whatsoever. And hand on my heart, I had no pain. That's what hypnobirthing does. Your birth taught me the great power of the mind and the power of intentions and belief. It was very empowering, so thank you.
What was the music that you were playing in the background? Oh, it was the I Ching, the I Ching, very beautiful music, very soothing, yeah. So you are now 19 years old, almost 20, and in your second year at Manchester University in the UK, studying, what is it called, because you said that they changed the It's called international management.
Okay. So it's basically normal management, uh, lots of economics, finance, business, but the international element is that I get to go away for my third year. Yes. And so you're going to be heading off to Toronto in Canada this September, right? I know. I'm crossing the pond again. Yeah. What are you most looking forward to about that experience?
Um, I think it'd be nice to move to a different, another liberal city. I've already lived in, I mean, I've lived in three liberal cities now, so I can add another one to my collection. And, um, just, uh, I think I'm throwing myself in the deep end. I could have chosen somewhere to study in Europe, but instead I'm going far away, where I can go skiing, uh, explore a different culture, a new climate.
So, yeah. Brilliant. You know, when I read your soul plan chart for you a few weeks ago, I discovered that you have the same five five energies as I do, which is very much about adventure, pioneering travel, five fives, love to spread their wings, fly free and forge new ground. So it actually makes a lot of sense that you're heading abroad.
You know, I was 20 when I left Minnesota for California. And I was 24 when I moved to London. So, um, yeah, it's about that time for you. Yeah. I'm very excited. And I like that we share similar energies. I think it says a lot about us. Doesn't it? Yeah, it does. I was super excited by the way, when you let me do a soul plan session for you, because growing up you were never into the woo woo, the universe, the law of attraction, all that kind of stuff.
The way that your brother was, you'd always roll your eyes at us. If we talked about this stuff. Did I? I don't remember that. Yes, you did. I remember. Then again, if you're 10 years old, you don't really know much about spirituality, do you? No, that's true. Well, my podcast, if you ever listen to it properly, is about staying open minded and curious.
It's not actually a parenting podcast. I know that my book, Project Me for Busy Mothers, was, you know, that came out four years ago now. And so I do have a lot of. mothers in my audience that listen to the podcast, but now it is really not about parenting. It is about like exploring spirituality and higher consciousness from a non religious perspective.
Have you ever heard anything about unity consciousness? No. Well, that's the idea that we are all energy and we're all connected as one and we're all having our own individual experiences during our human lifetimes, but at the same time, we collectively form what's called a unity consciousness. So the more we begin to really feel as one.
The faster we kind of expedite our, our growth, it's really the feeling of separation that causes all of the deep problems in this world. There's all this polarization that divides us, all this black and white thinking, you know, I'm right, you're wrong. You see it playing out every day all over the world.
When I was growing up in America, you could vote for whatever president you thought was best, and your neighbors could vote for whoever they wanted, and you'd still hang out at each other's barbecues. Now it's like you voted for Trump. You're an idiot. I don't want to have anything to do with you and vice versa And we see it in the uk with brexit and now with the vaccination or anti vaccination divide And there seems to be a smaller and smaller gray area Like you're led to believe you've got to firmly be in one camp or the other Or you're going to feel caught in the middle Or you're going to lose out on being a part of a group and you're going to feel alone You So those living in higher states of consciousness don't need that safety that belonging to a certain group will make them feel they're strong in themselves and they don't get sucked into these divisions because they can see that there is no true right or wrong.
It's all subjective. It's down to conditioned beliefs, depending on whoever's influencing them the most. So unity consciousness is really about. Knowing that beyond these illusions of separateness, we really are all one and love is really the answer. Love is all you need. The Beatles were right. Does that make sense?
Yes, I enjoyed that analogy that you made between how back then you could vote for whoever you wanted and your neighbors wouldn't judge you for it. Uh, because I agree with you that we live in a very divisive world at the moment, and it seems like people just can never agree on issues, whether it's, you know, All the way stemming from politics to abortion to gay rights.
So yeah, I agree with this level of consciousness. I like it. And it's a new term to me. So I shall explore it in the future. Great. So Marco, we could talk about a million things, but for this episode, since a lot of my listeners are parents, I'd love to talk to you about being a gay young man in today's world.
My angle on it is, since we are all one. That unity consciousness again, why should young people these days feel any shame about who they choose to love? Why in this day and age don't all adults simply understand that humans are designed to be sexually attracted to either the opposite sex? The same sex or both or neither?
Why is it even still a thing? thing to feel ashamed of who you're naturally attracted to and you want to love that. Is that okay to talk to you about that? That's what I'm here to do. Great. You know, I just recently learned that shame is one of the very lowest vibrational frequencies. So if we love our kids, which we do so much, why would we wish them to experience shame for being who they are?
You have any thoughts on that? I didn't know it was one of the lowest vibrational frequencies, but to me it makes a lot of sense as to why it would be. I think that's very powerful actually, and if that's the case, then I think more parents should stop wishing shame upon their children. So yeah, I agree with that.
I'm sure they're not wishing shame upon their children, but it's kind of good. Some of them do. Some of them do in some parts of the world. Oh, you're right. You're right. Yeah, they want, they want their children to feel ashamed for who they are. They change themselves, resort to new methods like conversion therapy.
I know that's awful to think that that still is a thing, but that's still going on. Um, you were 17 when you told me that, I think you were 17, correct me if I'm wrong, that you told me you were bi curious. And I'll admit that at the time, I had never even heard that term before. I remember you saying it and I'm going, um, I don't know what that means.
Did it feel safer for you at that time to say that, um, you're bi curious than that you were gay? Or at that time, were you just genuinely curious about exploring both? I think I was 16, but yeah. Um, well I'd had experiences with girls in the past and I enjoyed spending time with them. So even though perhaps my feelings were stronger to men, it felt wrong to completely shut off all of my possibilities at that time.
So I mean, I guess evidently looking back, it probably was a mixture of both. The term curious is, you know, Probably quite outdated now, considering a lot of teens, especially girls, just do things with the same gender without any question about it. But I still think that many parents have the outdated mindset that, you know, gay children can't have kids, their family names can't be passed down, and as a result, no, not having any grandchildren.
So, and that's kind of ignorant because that sort of discredits adopted kids and those that are conceived through methods like IVF. So I think myself, a lot of others that I know were scared of the repercussions and of that and hence gave ourselves the safety net. Yeah, that makes sense. I understand. I think it would feel safer to, if you're going to have that first conversation with a parent, for example, and you weren't Even sure yourself or you weren't sure what their reaction was going to be to say that you're bi curious because it definitely gets you like, oh, okay, what does that mean?
And it kind of starts a conversation, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's a safety net, but I don't, I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a way that we should, I don't think it's a way that we should keep going forward. I think it should just be that you say who you, who you think you are at that time period.
And that's just subject to change. So, yeah. Yeah. Yep. Was it hard for you to come out? Did you hold it inside before even talking to me about it? Um, I don't think it was hard to come out as a whole. I mean, it definitely wasn't hard to come out to my friends. I kind of just did that all in one go. Um, and from there, a lot of relief was just taken off me.
Um, I could dress different, paint my nails if I wanted to, act myself. I mean, I felt very fearless knowing that I didn't need to pretend to be someone that I wasn't, which I'd been doing for quite a while, um, especially in a school environment. But everyone at school was fine with it, and that's all I really cared about.
I didn't need any special treatment from anyone. I don't I didn't want to be treated differently, I just wanted to be accepted and move on as a whole. I mean, family wise, I don't think we had many conversations in the house about what it meant to be gay. Obviously, we had gay friends in our circle, but I was never really told otherwise.
I don't think having gay f I know a lot of people But even though I'm me who say like, oh, my dad has a gay aunt or this and that, I don't think having gay friends or family members is a valid reason to think that you're somehow more connected to us in the LGBT community. I mean, it's a different story when it becomes your child because it brings out a protective instinct, and it shows how you really feel now that the weight is on you to make the right decisions.
So I mean, I was only asked if I was seeing any girls, if I kiss any girls at parties, and that, that isolates kids, and that limits the scope of the truth. So, I think that can be a takeaway for future parents. Although they, although the inkling is to sort of presume your child fancies those of the opposite gender, that isn't always the case, and you have to accommodate to this more, you know, ever changing, acceptable society.
Yeah, I mean, I look forward to the days, and I think it, you know, it will definitely happen, it's just a question of when, when kids don't need to come out as gay, because nothing will be expected or presumed either way. I agree with that, I think that in the future it should just be that. You go up to your friend and you go, Hey, I went on a date with this person.
And they go, Oh, cool. And they don't bat an eyelid. And I think that, I think that will be the case in the future. I mean, it's, I think maybe it's more of a cultural shock at the moment, but I think what I was saying earlier about just being treated the same regardless is just all we want to be honest.
Because I know sometimes as soon as you come out, people treat you differently. Some people are nicer to you. Some people are worse to you. I just think it should be, Equal base for everyone starting off as a, as an adolescent. Yeah, I agree. You know, I think that some parents you, you mentioned before, like, Oh, you know, I want kids to go to their wedding.
They'll never have kids, you know, the family name, all that kind of stuff. And you already talked on that earlier, but I know that some parents, they're afraid that life will be harder. If you're, for example, a gay man, you know, they grew up seeing discrimination and the horrible way that gay men could get beat up in the street and, you know, they don't want that for their child.
It scares them. And I think, you know, you know, do you ever feel discriminated against or in fear? Uh, I actually don't, to be honest, and I'm very lucky to say that because I've not experienced blatant homophobia or verbal or physical attacks. I mean, weirdly, a lot of it actually comes. from within the community.
Some gay men just think that because you're gay too, they can, they're welcome to make advances on you, which can be uncomfortable at times. But I mean, I don't really see the point in living in fear. I mean, luckily I live in a country where we have pretty similar liberties to heterosexual individuals.
And if someone's going to try and stop that, luckily the rule of law actually applies here. I feel more for those that live in other countries, like I mentioned earlier, where, you know, people adopt outdated views, places like Saudi Arabia where the monarch inflicts propaganda and there's censorship to call out everything LGBT.
So I think those are the ones that I, I feel for more, but I'm lucky enough to sit here and say that I've actually not experienced anything profusely negative. I'm really happy to hear that. And now you're moving to Toronto, which I've heard is a very open city as well. Woo. Woo. Um, now that I understand about energy and the law of vibration, I know that our emotions carry a vibrational frequency.
And when we're feeling low vibe, we're attracting low vibe people and experiences into our lives. So if a parent doesn't want their gay child to experience discrimination or hatred, it makes total sense to fill them with acceptance for who they are rather than shame. Because if that person is feeling ashamed of who they are, then being ashamed is going to attract those low vibe people into their experience.
So the very thing that the parent doesn't want for their child, which is for them to have a harder life could be what they're unconsciously creating for them. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I mean, I think it carries a lot of mental health risks as well when someone isn't, because I think a lot of kids, you know, they envision the perfect coming out story with loads of, there's a lot of TV series and movies you can watch about the perfect coming out and everyone being happy and giddy about it.
So I think that when that's your perception of, and then it doesn't go that way and you have, potentially a parent who's not so comfortable with your choice, that can lead you to make some, you know, some poor mental health decisions that will impact your mental health. And that's the exact opposite of what the whole purpose of coming out is meant to be.
I mean, if you feel in fear of that, that means that you start to become in fear of the people that love you the most. And that's, that's the opposite. Very sad. Yeah, it is. I was reading a whole bunch of stuff that people who feel that they need to hide who they are or who fear discrimination or violence are at a greater risk for emotional problems like anxiety and depression.
And some LGBT teens that don't have good support systems can be at higher risk for dropping out of school, living on the streets, using alcohol and drugs, trying to harm themselves. So yeah, it just makes sense that we need to. be as supportive as we can be. And I do feel for, you know, teenagers in particular, who feel that they have to hide who they are from their parents.
There's, you know, they've got enough going on with things like school and, you know, friends and fitting in and just all the stuff that, that everybody has, all teenagers have. But in addition to that, you know, LGBT teens have that extra layer of things to think about, like whether they have to hide who they are.
Yeah, I agree with that. I think it's just an, yeah, as you said, it's just an extra burden on top of you. You've already spent so many years or months not being yourself, and then when you finally can be yourself, it all just goes downhill again. So I think it's a very good lesson for future parents to really educate themselves just about the topic, even, even if they don't know what their child is going to be in the future.
As I said before, just saying things like, hey, have you kissed anyone before? Or, I bet you, I just, I just don't think that these questions should be gender based, gender specific. Oh yeah, I see what you mean. Like, oh, you come back from camp. It's like, oh, how many girls did you kiss? You know, like, that's like presuming.
Yeah, that was my point before, because I think it just, it really limits the scope of the way you can answer that question. And it's, and even if you, even if your parents aren't homophobic, for example, where you just start to. You just have to presume that they want that certain path for you in life. Yeah, it's true.
You know, what's so interesting for me is that I honestly, my, I think my gaydar is absolutely terrible because I actually thought that your older brother was gay. And I never ever thought that you were and you know, I remember it was just before his 18th birthday and he said he had a big announcement to make and he finished dinner and it was a real kind of, okay, I got something to tell you guys and because it was right before his 18th birthday and he never had a girlfriend.
I was like, okay, here we go. Finally, you know, he's going to say it. And he said, I have a girlfriend. And I was like, yeah, I remember just being like, you know, okay, he's having a like coming out as straight announcement and but thinking about it now, it's like, was that max? Yeah. Oh, yeah, I think I knew. It was quite I thought it was quite funny.
But when I think about it now, it's like, yeah, anybody should be able to sit at the dinner table whenever they feel ready to say, That they're interested if they have a girlfriend or a boyfriend or whatever, and be able to say that to their family. And he obviously wanted to wait until he felt really sure about being with a girl and not saying that he ever, he he's, he's not gay and I don't think he ever even questioned his sexuality.
But what I'm saying is that for him to be able to sit down and just make an announcement that he had a girlfriend, it should be the same for everybody. Whether it's a boy announcing he has a boyfriend or a girl announcing she has a girlfriend. You know, it should be that kind of a conversation. The universal.
Yeah, you know what I had three Different gay friends tell me that they suspected that you might be gay. And I never, I was like, Marco, no, no, definitely not. They're like, yeah, possibly. And I was like, no. And I just absolutely didn't see it. You know, I was like, no, he snogs all the girls at camp and the girls are all over him.
And it's just really funny. Cause as a kid, you weren't a boy boy, but neither was your brother. You didn't play football. You were in the choir. You sang in bed. school talent show. You had all girlfriends. I remember that your, your posse was all girls and you, you were the one boy that was invited to their sleepovers and everything.
And it was because you were such a great conversationalist. You still are, by the way. And I guess, yeah, like I said, like my, my gaydar is just completely off to think that your brother was gay and you weren't. So parents, you just never know. Exactly. That's the key takeaway. Can I ask you, what would you say to a parent listening who has reacted not so well upon hearing that their child is not heterosexual and wants to put things right, but doesn't know where to begin now?
Well, I think they have to find the place within them that's bringing out that factor first. I mean, there has to be a reasoning behind them not being so welcoming. It could be for the reasons you mentioned above. But once you, once you find out that reason, you have to really wonder if that reason is enough to jeopardize your relationship with your son or daughter.
Because if it is, then you're going to make life very hard for them. for yourselves in the future and you're gonna limit the dialogue that you guys have and the growth that you have as a family and as a As a parent with your kid, so if you think that's worth it, then I think that's a very sad view But if you are willing to rectify the situation and you want to get close again to your child I think it's a conversation you need to have you need to make the effort you need to make them feel that they're being Loved again And you have to really regain their respect and their trust.
Yeah. I think that must be really difficult if you've kind of gone down that way and then you kind of need to backtrack and try to go back, but yeah, I mean, it needs to be done, right? Exactly. It always, always should be done. There's always room for growth. Absolutely. I did hear a good point about labels.
Like, there are so many labels now. There's kind of like, you know, gay, bi, I don't even know them all. You know them more than I do. Non binary, trans. I don't know. There's lots and lots and lots of different labels. But what I heard is that, you know, The importance of putting all these extra kind of labels, if you will, all these extra, I can't think of another word besides labels, but it's just to show that there aren't just three containers to be in.
So for a long time, there's just been like, imagine like three containers. Like one is gay, one is straight, and one is bi and well, bi is a relatively new one. Cause for a long time it was just straight or gay, but let's say there's like three containers and you just have to like say which one of those containers you are going to be in.
But by highlighting all the different sides. Sexual orientations. And there are just so many, I read a list one time, just how many different ways you can be. It's vast. Um, after a while, we'll come to the conclusion that it's pointless to even try to choose which container you're going to fit into because you'll just flow freely without needing to contain it.
You won't need labels anymore. So right now there are a lot of different labels, but the labels are mostly just to illustrate that there are so many different ways to be. I read. Some of that from Glennon Doyle's book, she wrote a book called Untamed and she probably put it a lot better than I just did, but it was about these kind of like three vessels and you know, choose which one you're going to be in, but she was all about like pouring out the vessels and just letting it flow.
It was really beautiful, said much better than I just did. Yeah, I think labels are good at, they're good and bad for different reasons. They're good at, they're good at guiding you into a certain space. So if you do want to hang out with people who you think identify with that label, then that's good.
Because you can form your own sort of little trust and community. But the only bad thing about it is it does limit the scope to which you can be yourself. Because if you are put into a label, you feel that you have to be that way. So if you come out as bi, you feel that you have to like men and women. If you change the sound of a line.
That could affect you and affect your identity because you feel that you are bi. And obviously there's different things now, like there's different labels and genders that we use. Like I like the use of the non binary, which is when someone doesn't perceive themselves to be, have male characteristics or just doesn't, sorry, as in they perceive themselves being gender fluid, which means they can do what they want, basically.
I mean, me and you watched Drag Race together and Bimini was gender fluid. So I just didn't feel the need to. Um, and she could be male or female presenting. I mean, she was a drag queen, so she could be female presenting if she wanted to be. And she could also be male presenting if she wanted to be too, or she could be anything she wanted to be.
And it didn't have to be a label. And that's what I really like. I think that's a very good message to send out for the future. I'm so happy that you introduced me to RuPaul's Drag Race. Yeah, that was like a year ago, wasn't it? I think a couple of years ago, I think we've been, it was like our thing. Like we could watch it together.
Lockdown 2020. Yeah, it was, that was our lockdown 2020. And now whenever you come to visit, it's like our little like project where we'll watch it together. You've already seen it, but you'll watch it again with me, which I always love. But that show has taught me so much like about what you just talked about, that it is, I don't know.
It's taught me an awful lot about kind of behind the scenes of emotions. And And coming out and living their lives and being free to be themselves. And I just think it's an amazing show and I love that BBC picked it up. So it's like mainstream as well. Yeah. I mean, the show, the show's changing a lot too.
I mean, the show started off just being like very, I mean, I don't like to use the word, but it was, it was, it started off being very just, you know, Transvestites walking into a room with only nine people walk into a room with very limited drag and now it's changed to Include people of all sorts of spectrum non binary people We just watched a season that had a cisgender woman on it and then on this latest season I'm watching there's now a heterosexual man.
So It's definitely changed now They're accepting but pretty much everyone to the show and I think it's a the show is kind of a benchmark for what's happening In real life, which I quite like to see I love that. I'm looking forward to you visiting me again so we can we can pick up and keep watching that.
Well, I don't like to make these episodes super duper long. Is there anything else that you kind of want to say on this subject that we didn't touch on yet? Um, I mean, we could talk a bit about pride, maybe. Yeah. Well, yeah, I think that pride is A really good way. I mean if anyone listening has a child maybe who wants to go to pride I say definitely go to pride It's like the first place that you can ever go to where you feel completely accepted And can be yourself because you're surrounded by everyone on the spectrum Um, I don't know.
My first pride was really fun. I was walking for amnesty international uh in 19, I think it was? Yeah, I think it was. Before lockdown. I was back before, I mean, I went to university, so I wasn't drinking. I was just, I literally was just walking for three hours straight with an Amnesty flag, dancing to music, and it was the most liberating thing ever.
And I just think that I highly encourage everyone to go to Pride. Even if you are an ally, just go to Pride, experience that. It's a really good way to make friends and to improve yourself. I remember you coming back from Pride and just being like, just, you were just on such a high. I remember just showing me videos and everything and your feet hurt because like you said, you've been walking nonstop for over three hours.
Running. I was running, dancing, everything in between. It was fun. I remember that. That's so cool. There is something that just flashed into my mind. I wanted to talk about it earlier on in the conversation when we were still talking about Parents and all of that. It was okay. I remember you and I last summer, you came to Madrid and we went to that rooftop bar.
Remember in Madrid, it was such a hot day. We're on the rooftop bar. We got into kind of a, felt like kind of a heated like discussion. And you said when you don't want to hear the excuse of they just need time. Do you remember that like we're talking about like if you're telling a parent or a grandparent or or somebody that you know You're gay and they don't quite accept it right away and someone says it's okay.
Just give them time They just need some time and I remember you going like oh my gosh, I'm just tired of that excuse people need time Do you still feel that way? Yeah, I think that is I've spoken about I did I did a podcast recently um on a radio show about And I kind of went into this issue already because Big pet peeve of mine.
It still is, which is why I get very riled about it, but yeah, I just don't think it's, I just think that too many people say, oh, this person needs time, or this person came from a country where so and so wasn't right, or they're I don't know. Their family taught them the X, Y, Z, and this is the only way you can do it.
And I just don't think that that's a valid excuse anymore, especially not in 2022. Maybe 20 years ago, it could have passed, but now it's not the case. If you, everyone needs to make their own choice as to whether or not they're going to live up to the standards of the current society, the current society tells us, especially in the Western world, that being gay in this instance is acceptable.
And anything, uh, in contrary to try and limit their rights is against the law. So, as a result, I think that people need to realize that and they need to really adjust their views to the current mindset, which is what I just said. And I just think if you're not going to do that, to me, it just shows that you're not ready, ready for growth.
People, people who need time to wait, that's fine. They can have their time, but they're going to limit as a result, they're going to limit their relationship they have. With the family. That's my opinion. Thank you for explaining that. I guess I remember when we talked about it me saying but people should be allowed to have time to process anything that they're Needing to process like sometimes people just need time and I remember you just going no no I'm tired of people needing time and me going.
I know I know but I mean even somebody who wins the lottery might need time to process that they have just Freaking won the lottery like they they might be in shock and they might so it's not just bad news You know, it's not just like news that they don't want to hear that they have to process It can also be good news as well.
Sometimes people just need time to process. Yeah I'm, not i'm not discrediting the fact that people are allowed time everyone in life is allowed time to process anything that they want to Do i'm saying that This time is time that you could have spent with that person Making your relationship even more secure instead you're taking this time to make them feel Uneasy about your decision that you might be making Time the word time is very uneasy for people in my community.
And I think that it's very easy for you to Perceive it as just, um, trying to acknowledge the situation, but for us, it's not like that. It's very, very hurtful when someone needs to spend a lot of time thinking about the way you were born. I love the way you put it this time. I think when we talked about it on the rooftop, it got a little bit more, I don't know, at that, I'm really happy that I remember.
Yeah, we had a couple margaritas at the time. I remember that now. Now that you've said it that way, I totally get it. Absolutely 100 percent get it. So I'm glad that you Yeah, it's just, and I won't keep going on about it, but it's just like someone taking time to question, uh, what you were when you were born.
To me, it's just not okay. It's like, I can't change this. Like if you're taking time, if I said to you, I now love wasabi peas. And you went, okay, I need some time to process that. I'd be like, okay, because I've made a conscious decision to eat wasabi peas. But I've not made a conscious decision to be gay. So it's not my choice.
Did I choose to live a life that would be more strenuous and more intense? No, I did not. Do I love it now? Yes, I do. Love it, Marco. Well said. Okay. Um, so can I ask you one final question? Yes. It's about my parenting. I'm putting myself on the spot here, but as the author of a book for mothers, and having had a blog about motherhood for many years, a lot of people have read my thoughts on everything from how to stop shouting at your kids, to how to stop shouting at your kids.
To how to have better communication with your kids, how to be a more peaceful, loving mother. I've just written all sorts of things for, for mothers and you know, you're an adult now. So, I'm bracing myself here. How did I do? How did you do during this podcast? No, how did I do as a parent? I really enjoy your parenting.
I think you're able to relay on level because you know other people who also parent. And I think you apply that to your real life. And I think knowing you through your business and knowing the way that you operate through the past four years, I've been very respectful and admirable of what you do. So yes.
Thank you very much. Appreciate that. I'll transfer that 50 quid over to your account after the call. Um, joke, joke, joke. Well, thank you, Michael, for taking the time out of your busy university life to talk to me. I am incredibly proud of you and the amazing young man that you have turned out to be. Thank you.
I'm very proud of you as well. Thank you. I love you. Love you too.
Thank you for listening to the project me podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe in your favorite podcast app. I really appreciate your reviews so much and you sharing it with your friends or on your social media channels. Be sure to tag me to get the free project me life will to head on over to my project me.
com. And that'll also put you onto my newsletter list and you'll get updates on my programs, my retreats and anything else I'm cooking up. You'll also get the inner life wheel when it's ready. You can follow me on Instagram, I'm Kelly Project Me, or on Facebook, I'm Project Me Kelly P. New members are warmly welcomed into Project WE membership.
Soon we are making our 22 vision boards and getting clear about what we want to bring into our lives this year. Thanks to our brand new membership team, you're going to get some exciting new extras too that are going to really help you to find your focus. Go to myprojectme. com forward slash projectwe for all of the Project We details.
Until next time, open your mind, open your heart, and stay curious. We all need some space in our lives for the magical and unknown.