What a journey! It sounds like the labels were holding you back rather than helping. I’m happy you found love and acceptance without having to navigate labels!

I’ve also had some experiences with labels holding me back, especially when I was questioning and didn’t know how to answer when I was beginning to date other queers. A lot of people interpreted that as me being noncommital, unfortunately. Nowadays I’ve become a label collector, though I tend to share them on a need to know basis.