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Today I spent some time walking around Freeport, Maine, one of the busiest shopping destinations in New England.

As I walked from store to store, something occurred to me.

Years ago, this trip would have looked very different.

I wouldn’t have been thinking about shopping.

I would have been thinking about bathrooms.

Which stores had single-user restrooms?

Which bathrooms had urinals?

Would there be people waiting outside?

What if I couldn’t go?

One of my biggest triggers was knowing, or even thinking, that someone was waiting for me outside the restroom.

That thought alone could lock me up.

Today…

None of those thoughts crossed my mind.

I simply enjoyed my day.

It reminded me how much has changed.

Not because every restroom is always easy.

I still have the occasional nonjudgmental no-go.

But my life is no longer organized around bathrooms.

I’ve realized that the weight of all those thoughts…

The planning.

The worrying.

The endless “what ifs.”

Is no longer sitting on my shoulders.

And that’s an incredibly freeing feeling.

For a long time, I honestly believed I’d live with shy bladder syndrome forever.

I was wrong.

Freedom is possible.