First of all, he wasn't getting into my space.

I was in his, like this was his bar.

Right.

I was in his bar.

He wasn't in mine.

And second of all, in this weird way, he was actually trying to create a bond with me.

Like he wasn't even exactly being homophobic.

He was sort of saying like, look at this great place we have.

We even tolerate people like you.

Why would you want to jeopardize that?

And it sounds strange to say, but like in that moment, I felt really great.

It's painful to have access to that experience that I would never otherwise have.

And the next day, I flew home to Washington DC.

I returned to my happy bubble with my husband and my house and my dogs.

With this memory of this experience of encountering somebody whose worldview was so different

from mine and having something like a real interaction with them that I never otherwise

would have had.

Hi.

I'm Rachel Hollis.

And this is my podcast.

I spend so many hours of every single week reading and listening to podcasts and watching

YouTube videos and trying to find out as much as I can about the world around me.

...