Excellent piece, Jeremy! I related to it in many ways.

When I was a kid, I was consistently the "good kid" who waited for a lull in the conversation before saying my piece...because I'd always been taught that it was polite to refrain from interrupting others.

Silly me! -- assuming that adults would show me the same respect, in return. Whenever I waited my turn, and then began to speak once there was a natural pause/lull in the conversation -- inevitably, some adult (probably with the mindset that "children should be seen and not heard") would orally steamroll over me, even if I'd already been talking for 5-10 seconds...because, apparently, whatever THEY wanted to say was far more important solely due to their age.

For this reason, over the years, I've conditioned my voice to be louder and louder...to the point where people will tell me it's offputting. This vocal amplification of mine is deeply rooted in the ageism I would continuously experience, as a kid and a teenager. I still find it a struggle to regulate my decibel level, because that unconscious stigma is always with me.