God it's been really long since my last one of these. I apologize. It takes me a while to write these
So as of Christmas day of my junior year in highschool, my brother now knew I was gay. So far, the world kept spinning.
The next day, my older sister and I left town to drive out to our extended family. They live about 6-7 hours away. My goal was to come out to her sometime during this window. Actually, it only took us till when we were just out of town. We were talking about how fun last night was, so it felt pretty natural for me to start talking about what happened when our brother and I went downstairs to get a soda. She was pretty shocked. Not upset, just surprized. Apparently, she'd been friends with a number of gay guys over the years, but they had all been extremely stereotypical. I was the first guy she knew who didn't act like that. She started asking me questions. A lot of them were about how long have I known and stuff like that, but many of them were checking to see if I just supress my "gay" qualities, such as feminine behavior and personality, etc. Lately, she's been getting better at it, but she still makes the occasional assumption about me. I think she just assumes that I'm the exception to the rule. Maybe I am, but I'd like to think that there are way more masculine gay guys out there than she realizes. Anyway, she didn't disown me, the car didn't swerve, we just talked about it for awhile and then moved on after she asked all of her questions.
I've heard people warn that you should never come out to someone while they're driving. For safety reasons, I can understand the logic. I mean, if they're extremely surprised, then they might jerk the wheel or something. Besides that though, I feel like a car is the most natural place to come out to someone. I think the biggest reason is that there's no risk of someone else barging in on you; for instance, when I came out to my brother, if I had stalled for much longer, my sisters probably would've barged in wondering where we were. Another reason is that you don't have to maintain eye contact. At first, I had a lot of trouble coming out to people and looking at them directly in the eye. In a car, the eyes are on the road.
My sister and I spent a few days with my extended family (none of whom I came out to on that particular trip) then returned home. A couple weeks later, I decided to come out to my dad. In order to prevent myself from chickening out last minute, I told my dad the night before that I had something important to talk to him about. I was planning on talking to him alone at home, but the next morning he offered me a ride to school. My school was a 40 minute drive, so it was going to provide a lot of time for us to talk. Still, I was unprepared to talk about it this early.
We started driving and he immediately asked me what was wrong. It took me a couple minutes to get my thoughts together. Even though I knew I had my brother and sister for support if things went wrong, I was still terrified. I wasn't able to tell my dad "I'm gay." Instead, I said "I think I'm gay." Why did I say it like this? In my nervousness, I stuttered, and adding the word 'think' helped me get through saying it. I wish I hadn't though. He took the fact that I said "think" as a sign that I wasn't entirely sure, that this was a new thing that I was experiencing. I kept trying to explain to him that I was sure, but he wouldn't give me the benefit of the doubt. I think he believed me, he just didn't want to.
He started asking me lots of questions. I remember some of his first questions were "Are you sexually or emotionally attracted to boys?" I answered first sexually, then emotionally. "How long have you been sexually attracted to boys?" I think I stopped him at this point. I asked him to start saying men instead of boys. Asking me about my attraction to "boys" made me feel like a pedophile.
All this time while we were speaking, I cold tell that my dad was breaking on the inside, and that says something. My dad has a decent poker face when it comes to hiding his real emotions, but you'd be able to tell he was breaking even if you didn't know him well enough to see through his mask. It wasn't that he had a problem with homosexuality though. A little bit of background on my dad: he grew up poor and had to work his ass off through life in order to be as successful as he is. He made a promise to himself that he would work as hard as he possibly could to make sure that my siblings and I lived with as little hardship as possible. Finding out that despite all of his efforts, one of his kids had to face some terrible stuff without my dad even knowing about it must have been hard to deal with, especially that he had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation. He desperatetly tried to regain the position of people the "experienced parent who knows what to do."
He asked me to "keep this under wraps" for a while. He told me not to tell my older brother or sister, and he especially not to tell my mom. This told me a number of things: he thought that he was the first guy I came to and therefor my main emotional support, and that he was just as afraid as I was that he wouldn't be able to stand up to my step-mom if she reacted badly.
I never expected that by coming out to my dad, I would be more concerned with his emotional well-being than my own. I didn't have the heart to tell him right then and there that my brother and sister already knew. His self-esteem as a parent was already damaged enough for one car ride. So, I decided that for a while, I would let my dad play the role of protective parent so that he would get some of his security back. I felt guilty about lying to him though, but I would tell him the truth soon.
He let me out of the car at school and reassured me that he still loved me and that everything was going to be okay, and I thanked him. I was glad that I now had his support, but I now especially terrified of how my step-mom would react, since I now knew that my dad wouldn't be strong enough to back me up.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Coming Out pt 4: My first steps out to others
I was at a very awkward place in my life. I had my suicidal thoughts under control, at least for the time being. I had no idea what would happen if I were to come out and my family and friends would reject me, though. Sure, I had determined that I COULD survive if I tried, but I wasn't sure if I would have the drive to keep going. I mean, the thing that was keeping me going was the idea that killing myself would hurt my family and friends; if they reject me, then I would be as good as dead to them anyway, so how hurt would they be if I actually died? Besides, I wasn't entirely conviced at this point that there could be some personal happiness out there waiting for me, either in the form of a life-long relationship or anything else. No, at this point I had not yet found any stories that I found personally inspiring. I was a junior in highschool at this point.
I didn't have much faith that my family and friend's reactions would be positive. I had next to no trust in my friends, considering the anti-gay stuff they said so often. I had mixed feelings towards my family. Homosexuality was something that we never really talked about. I didn't know how my family was going to feel. What I did know, was what would happen if my step-mom wasn't going to be okay with it. She and I would have a falling out which would end up with me having to move out of the house. Even if my dad were okay with me being gay, it wouldn't matter. He wouldn't be able to stop anything from happenning. I say this all with confidence because something similar happened with my older sister. She's straight, but she and my step-mom never really got along. She had to move out of the house while she was still in highschool.
I decided the first person I should come out to was my older brother. I chose him for a number of reasons. First of all, I'm closer to him than anyone else I know; he's always the first person I go to when I need help with something, and he's the guy who I look up to most in my life. I mean, he's this strong, tough guy, but he's also the kind of guy you can sit down and talk to. On a more practical note, he's grown up and has a place of his own. If things didn't go over well with mom and dad, I could rely on him to give me a place to stay.
I spent a month or so trying to encourage myself to come out to him. There were times when I'd be alone with him, almost tell him, and then back out at the last second. Then there were other times when I'd get close, hesitate and completely miss my opprotunity.
Finally, I was able to come out to him on Christmas day, my junior year of highschool. Yes I know, Christmas day sounds like a horrible choice, but the opprotunity came up, and that was the day I felt ready. We (my older brother, my older sister and younger sister) were all up in my room playing videogames. It was my sisters' turn, so I told them I was going to go get a soda. I asked my brother if he wanted to come with to get one too. When I said this, my older sister figured out I had something I wanted to talk to my brother about, and decided to tease me about it. "OOOOoh. Brother time, huh? Haha! GAY!" Man, she had no idea....
So my brother and I went downstairs to the basement fridge. The whole way down, I was giving myself a pep talk. When we got to the fridge, he asked me what was up. I froze and was suddenly unable to look him in the eye. I started tearing up. I was able to make a couple glances at him. He just stood there, looking at me patiently. I finally managed to say "I'm gay." I said it so quietly, I'm actually surprised that he was able to hear me the first time.
You know how you hear people say coming out feels like a huge boulder is lifted, and you suddenly feel much lighter? Well, for me, it felt more like I was centerstage, naked, in the spotlight, and I had nothing to hide behind. That means something coming from me. I never get stage fright. I was crying at this point, and I found it even harder to look at my brother in the eye. He came over and gave me a hug. He told me everything was okay, and that he still loved me just as much. He said that he was actually had a feeling I was gay, considering I never mentionned girls to him. He then asked a couple questions such as how long have I known, do I have a boyfriend, have I ever had one, do I like anyone, etc.
We kept talking until I was okay to go back upstairs. At the end of the night, he waited till we were alone again, gave me another hug, and reassured me again that he still loved me.
I didn't have much faith that my family and friend's reactions would be positive. I had next to no trust in my friends, considering the anti-gay stuff they said so often. I had mixed feelings towards my family. Homosexuality was something that we never really talked about. I didn't know how my family was going to feel. What I did know, was what would happen if my step-mom wasn't going to be okay with it. She and I would have a falling out which would end up with me having to move out of the house. Even if my dad were okay with me being gay, it wouldn't matter. He wouldn't be able to stop anything from happenning. I say this all with confidence because something similar happened with my older sister. She's straight, but she and my step-mom never really got along. She had to move out of the house while she was still in highschool.
I decided the first person I should come out to was my older brother. I chose him for a number of reasons. First of all, I'm closer to him than anyone else I know; he's always the first person I go to when I need help with something, and he's the guy who I look up to most in my life. I mean, he's this strong, tough guy, but he's also the kind of guy you can sit down and talk to. On a more practical note, he's grown up and has a place of his own. If things didn't go over well with mom and dad, I could rely on him to give me a place to stay.
I spent a month or so trying to encourage myself to come out to him. There were times when I'd be alone with him, almost tell him, and then back out at the last second. Then there were other times when I'd get close, hesitate and completely miss my opprotunity.
Finally, I was able to come out to him on Christmas day, my junior year of highschool. Yes I know, Christmas day sounds like a horrible choice, but the opprotunity came up, and that was the day I felt ready. We (my older brother, my older sister and younger sister) were all up in my room playing videogames. It was my sisters' turn, so I told them I was going to go get a soda. I asked my brother if he wanted to come with to get one too. When I said this, my older sister figured out I had something I wanted to talk to my brother about, and decided to tease me about it. "OOOOoh. Brother time, huh? Haha! GAY!" Man, she had no idea....
So my brother and I went downstairs to the basement fridge. The whole way down, I was giving myself a pep talk. When we got to the fridge, he asked me what was up. I froze and was suddenly unable to look him in the eye. I started tearing up. I was able to make a couple glances at him. He just stood there, looking at me patiently. I finally managed to say "I'm gay." I said it so quietly, I'm actually surprised that he was able to hear me the first time.
You know how you hear people say coming out feels like a huge boulder is lifted, and you suddenly feel much lighter? Well, for me, it felt more like I was centerstage, naked, in the spotlight, and I had nothing to hide behind. That means something coming from me. I never get stage fright. I was crying at this point, and I found it even harder to look at my brother in the eye. He came over and gave me a hug. He told me everything was okay, and that he still loved me just as much. He said that he was actually had a feeling I was gay, considering I never mentionned girls to him. He then asked a couple questions such as how long have I known, do I have a boyfriend, have I ever had one, do I like anyone, etc.
We kept talking until I was okay to go back upstairs. At the end of the night, he waited till we were alone again, gave me another hug, and reassured me again that he still loved me.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Coming Out pt 3: Learning to accept myself
I'm gonna start of mentionning something that happened recently. My dad is one of the higher-ups at a med school. A student at this school committed suicide. My dad had never personally met this kid, put hearing about this brought up some painful memories of my mom, who committed suicide when I was 6. When he found out about it, he spent the rest of the afternoon crying. My dad is usually the kind of person who tries to supress those kinds of emotions. He decided to take it upon himself to talk to the kid's parents and help them through this. For those of you reading this who are religious, please pray for this kid's parents and for my dad. They need them.
Interesting coincidence that this happenned now, cause this next part of my story is about my own experience with suicidal thoughts, among other unhealthy thoughts.
I was a very angry kid through most of highschool. Part of it was my problem accepting that I was gay, and part of it was having to deal with the comments of other students. As I said before, sometimes it seems like every other comment made during school was anti-gay. I would just sit there and listen to them. Occasionally, I'd make one or two myself, just in case someone would find it suspicious that I never made any gay jokes. I was completely miserable at this time. I hated the other kids in school for the shit they said. Sometimes, it would be unbearable. I wanted to hurt them. Whenever they would get on a roll and say one gay joke after another, I'd imagine myself snapping and attacking all of them. I never did though. I think I have Tae Kwon Do to thank for that. It was a great way to vent my anger and learn to control it. Accidents happen a lot in Tae Kwon Do. People do sometimes get hurt. I'm thankful for these accidents, because they helped remind me that a) I hate hurting people and b) I can really hurt people if I tried.
It's funny. Hurting someone during the match feels like a sign of weakness. You're supposed to understand your strength and be able to control it. When you fail and hurt someone, you feel extremely guilty. It sucks because sometimes it's hard to maintain control, especially when facing a tough opponent. Towards the end of a fight you get tired and can't think straight. You forget to control yourself, and let go. Then, someone gets hurt. It takes a high level of maturity to accept that accidents happen and forgive yourself. You can't beat yourself up about it. You have to learn from it and move on. If you dwell on it too much, when the next fight comes around, you'll be too afraid of your own strength, hold back, and end up losing the fight.
It's similar to what I dealt with in highschool. Though I never actually snapped, I increasingly lost control over my thoughts. The fantasies I had of hurting kids at school became more violent, brutal and graphic. If it had kept up, I probably would have become one of those school shooters. One day, I just snapped out of it. I realized that I completely lost control. When that happened, I internalized all the anger I had towards the other kids. I began hating myself for being for being such a bad person for wanting to hurt them so badly. It bothered me more and more everyday.
I had finally accepted that I was gay at this point, but I felt that there was no hope for me to have a happy, openly gay life. I slipped further and further into despair. I started having thoughts of killing myself. I thought about it all the time. You know what's weird, all of these depressed thoughts of hating yourself, feeling hopeless for the future, wanting to kill yourself, the become strangely comforting. You have these feelings so often that you start to get addicted to them. They have physical effects too. You feel drowsy and your entire body slows down. It's like a warm blanket wraps around you. It's so comfy that you don't even realize that it's strangling you. I started to plan how I would go about killing myself. I decided that I wanted something quick and relatively painless. I also wanted a way that would leave little mess for my family to clean up. The first tenet of Tae Kwon Do is "Courtesy." I remembered how my mom killed herself. She hung herself in the garage. That seemed like a good way to go: it was quick, and there was no blood or anything.
Remembering my mom was what made me snap out of everything. I remembered how my mom's death destroyed everyone in my family. I realized that I didn't want to put my family through that again. I found my drive to keep going, at least for a little while. I started thinking about what it was like when my mom died. I thought that my life would never be the same and that I'd never be happy again. What made it worse was that most of my close friends had moved away at that time. I felt incredibly alone. The more I thought about it, the more I noticed the similarities between that time in my life and the things I was afraid of dealing with if I came out. I was afraid that I'd lose my family, my friends would all move away from me, my life would never be the same and that I would never be happy. Once I realized these similarities, I thought, If I was able to get through all of this once, maybe I can get through it again.
They say that God has a plan for everyone. Everything happens for a reason. Well, if God exists, maybe that horrible time in my life happenned to prepare me for all of this. If I wasn't forced to go through all of that, maybe I wouldn't know that I had the strength to get through this. Maybe I wouldn't understand how much suicide destroys people, and that I'd never want to put anyone through that. I started having hope for my situation.
I'm looking at what I'm writing, and it sounds like this all happenned pretty much all at once. It really didn't. It took a long time to get through this depression. Even when I made all of these connections, I still had to tell myself over and over again that everything was going to be okay.
Interesting coincidence that this happenned now, cause this next part of my story is about my own experience with suicidal thoughts, among other unhealthy thoughts.
I was a very angry kid through most of highschool. Part of it was my problem accepting that I was gay, and part of it was having to deal with the comments of other students. As I said before, sometimes it seems like every other comment made during school was anti-gay. I would just sit there and listen to them. Occasionally, I'd make one or two myself, just in case someone would find it suspicious that I never made any gay jokes. I was completely miserable at this time. I hated the other kids in school for the shit they said. Sometimes, it would be unbearable. I wanted to hurt them. Whenever they would get on a roll and say one gay joke after another, I'd imagine myself snapping and attacking all of them. I never did though. I think I have Tae Kwon Do to thank for that. It was a great way to vent my anger and learn to control it. Accidents happen a lot in Tae Kwon Do. People do sometimes get hurt. I'm thankful for these accidents, because they helped remind me that a) I hate hurting people and b) I can really hurt people if I tried.
It's funny. Hurting someone during the match feels like a sign of weakness. You're supposed to understand your strength and be able to control it. When you fail and hurt someone, you feel extremely guilty. It sucks because sometimes it's hard to maintain control, especially when facing a tough opponent. Towards the end of a fight you get tired and can't think straight. You forget to control yourself, and let go. Then, someone gets hurt. It takes a high level of maturity to accept that accidents happen and forgive yourself. You can't beat yourself up about it. You have to learn from it and move on. If you dwell on it too much, when the next fight comes around, you'll be too afraid of your own strength, hold back, and end up losing the fight.
It's similar to what I dealt with in highschool. Though I never actually snapped, I increasingly lost control over my thoughts. The fantasies I had of hurting kids at school became more violent, brutal and graphic. If it had kept up, I probably would have become one of those school shooters. One day, I just snapped out of it. I realized that I completely lost control. When that happened, I internalized all the anger I had towards the other kids. I began hating myself for being for being such a bad person for wanting to hurt them so badly. It bothered me more and more everyday.
I had finally accepted that I was gay at this point, but I felt that there was no hope for me to have a happy, openly gay life. I slipped further and further into despair. I started having thoughts of killing myself. I thought about it all the time. You know what's weird, all of these depressed thoughts of hating yourself, feeling hopeless for the future, wanting to kill yourself, the become strangely comforting. You have these feelings so often that you start to get addicted to them. They have physical effects too. You feel drowsy and your entire body slows down. It's like a warm blanket wraps around you. It's so comfy that you don't even realize that it's strangling you. I started to plan how I would go about killing myself. I decided that I wanted something quick and relatively painless. I also wanted a way that would leave little mess for my family to clean up. The first tenet of Tae Kwon Do is "Courtesy." I remembered how my mom killed herself. She hung herself in the garage. That seemed like a good way to go: it was quick, and there was no blood or anything.
Remembering my mom was what made me snap out of everything. I remembered how my mom's death destroyed everyone in my family. I realized that I didn't want to put my family through that again. I found my drive to keep going, at least for a little while. I started thinking about what it was like when my mom died. I thought that my life would never be the same and that I'd never be happy again. What made it worse was that most of my close friends had moved away at that time. I felt incredibly alone. The more I thought about it, the more I noticed the similarities between that time in my life and the things I was afraid of dealing with if I came out. I was afraid that I'd lose my family, my friends would all move away from me, my life would never be the same and that I would never be happy. Once I realized these similarities, I thought, If I was able to get through all of this once, maybe I can get through it again.
They say that God has a plan for everyone. Everything happens for a reason. Well, if God exists, maybe that horrible time in my life happenned to prepare me for all of this. If I wasn't forced to go through all of that, maybe I wouldn't know that I had the strength to get through this. Maybe I wouldn't understand how much suicide destroys people, and that I'd never want to put anyone through that. I started having hope for my situation.
I'm looking at what I'm writing, and it sounds like this all happenned pretty much all at once. It really didn't. It took a long time to get through this depression. Even when I made all of these connections, I still had to tell myself over and over again that everything was going to be okay.
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