My coming out story

John

42 min

Business & Finance

Description

I never liked the idea of coming out To me, it felt like I needed to tell an important truth about myself and give someone else the power to either accept me or deny me. It also created a room to let someone make you feel rejected or unloved. I have 3 siblings and I’ve never heard them coming out as heterosexual. I always knew there was something different with me. My youth church group told me it was a sin. My parents made it seem like it shouldn’t be that way. The macho guys in at high school always talked about girls. I thought there was something wrong with me. Something I needed to fix. Something I needed to keep a secret. Something I shouldn’t be sharing publicly. Because what if they don’t accept me? And what if my family turns their back at me? And what if I get bullied for being who I am? I should definitely keep it a secret, I thought. Moving out of my parents’ house, living on my own and working on my own self development taught me a lot of things… It taught me to love and accept myself for who I was – not for who people thought I should be. It taught me that it really doesn’t matter what people think about you–what matters is what you think about yourself It taught me that you can’t and won’t be liked by everyone–and that’s okay. It taught me to focus my attention on the people that actually love and support me–not on the people that wants a different version of me. It taught me that love always wins. That no matter how I was raised, what the so called "rules" were, or all the conditioning I was taught as a kid, love will always win. I used to tell myself I needed to change. I used to pray and asked God to change who I was. "I just want to be like the rest" – I prayed. And you wanna know what? I love my self. Every inch and every cell. I love my quirkiness. I love my sense of humor. I love my way of expressing myself. And I love exactly who I am, inside and out

Episodes

My coming out story

John

42:23