If reading this bothers you, I'm sorry. If reading this offends, annoys, triggers or (insert other word we've come up with to somehow legitimize our generation's inability to hear things that don't match our opinions without being personally affected) you, then by all means, retreat to your safe space and hate me for it.

Because that's all the apologizing I'm going to do. That's right, I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm a young, white, straight, Christian, Republican female. Apparently, those are all the qualifications needed to make it OK for anyone who doesn't agree with my political views to call me sexist. Racist. Homophobic. Xenophobic. Islamophobic. A bigot. Ignorant. Discriminatory. Whatever word a complete and total stranger can come up with to use in a nasty attempt to mask that they're simply telling me because they don't approve of the way I think, that means I'm not allowed to think that way.

I've spent far too much of my life apologizing for things I shouldn't. I thought that trying my best to please everyone, to not offend anyone and to be pliant and easily manipulated made me a better person. I was wrong. And if the nastiness that this election has brought out in everyone has made me realize one thing, it's that I don't owe it to anyone to be gentle. There is a fine line between kindness and being a doormat, and the number of times I've been called horrible, accusatory and demeaning names since I chose to speak out on the Internet about my political views has given that line some much-needed clarity.

Donald Trump winning this election has made a few things very (painfully, to some) clear. It has shown in a very obvious way that I was not alone in feeling like I owed it to someone to make sure my opinion didn't offend anyone. Because while polls might have shown that Hillary Clinton was going to win, there's a reason the actual result of the election was so different. It's because Trump supporters chose to pick our battles wisely. Knowing that our views would be too inflammatory, and also not being particularly inclined towards being called horrible and demeaning names, we chose to stay silent. Until the time to vote came, where we were alone in the voting booth with our ballots and there was no one around to insult us, shout at us, or call us "deplorables."

Right there, where it really mattered, we made our voices heard. Throughout this election we may have been quiet, our opinions drowned out by the loud voices and accusatory actions of the left. We learned our lesson quickly because when we did speak up, we were accused of "triggering" behavior and forcing teenagers to retreat into their safe spaces. So while it may have seemed like we gave up, instead we just kept to ourselves. And clearly, it worked. Our candidate got elected (by a landslide, might I add) and we shocked the world at what we were able to accomplish without shoving it in everyone's faces. As Tomi Lahren accurately states on her Twitter, "Hard working Americans came out in droves to vote for Trump in part to show these entitled crybabies they are not the voice of America."

But as I realized this, I realized how much truth there is to the saying "the truth will set you free... But first it will piss you off." Because while I'm proud that we accomplished what we set out to do without having to be loud about our opinions, I've also realized we don't owe it to anyone to be quiet. I have loud and controversial opinions. Opinions that I have no problem standing by, regardless of the name-calling. But the fact that my generation has gotten to the point where so many people think it's all fine and dandy to toss horrible, demeaning and insulting labels onto others just because they disagree with them or because they can claim that their opinion "offends" them, is in short, absurd.

I raised in a liberal state. I was not, however, raised to think I am the center of the universe and therefore it is everyone else's responsibility to tiptoe around me in order to never say anything to offend me or hurt my feelings. I've realized that not everyone agrees with me, in all aspects of my life. And I've also realized I can learn incredibly valuable lessons from people who share different views than mine. So as I've grown up, I've learned to stop taking it personally when others say something that offends me or doesn't line up with my beliefs.

However, apparently many in my generation didn't learn this. They somehow made it into their twenties still thinking that it's up to everyone else to treat them like they're made of fine china and walk on eggshells around them to avoid hurting their fragile little feelings. And feel free to call me whatever you want for saying this, but that is beyond ridiculous. And I won't give in to it. I fully believe that hearing things you don't agree with broadens your horizons, so I'm not going to filter myself or watch everything I say in order to make sure it won't offend anyone.

That's not my responsibility, it never has been and it never will be. So as of today, I'm done apologizing for having an opinion or for speaking my mind. If that hurts your feelings, well, I suggest you get off the Internet because odds are if what I have to say bothers you, what you're going to see elsewhere will send you running for your safe space.