WHEN ARE YOU READY?

            When I was trying to figure out how to come out to my family friends I must have watched every youtube video out there on the subject.  Whenever the question is asked, “when will you know you are ready” the person always says “you’ll just know.”  I agree that this is a hard question to tackle, but that answer gave me no help whatsoever.  So hopefully through this post I can help you understand when you are ready.

            When I first realized that I was gay, I wasn’t completely confident in my sexuality. I would deny that I was gay to people asking me about it, I tried to “act straight” so that people wouldn’t suspect anything and I even took a girl to prom (However she is my best friend who knew I was gay.  She would also kill me if I didn’t mention that she looked beautiful that night.) My first hurdle was to be happy with who I am and luckily I discovered my inner happiness.  My next thought was that I couldn’t lie anymore.  I was literally losing sleep over thinking how I would tell people that I am gay.  This was the point where I knew that I had to tell people.  I knew that the only way to be happy was to just be me and not care what anyone thinks about my sexuality.  There is no greater realization in life than understanding that you have to act exactly how you feel and when you do, every friend you have from that day on will love you for no other reason than being who you are.  Then I mustered the 2 seconds of ridiculous courage to say “I’m gay” and stand my ground.

            These were all the thoughts that ran through my mind before I came out.  I was content with being gay because I knew I had to express my true emotions to feel joy in life.  I don’t deny my sexuality anymore and I am proud of how far I have come to be true to myself.  I also no longer lose sleep on thinking about if people will treat me differently when I come out because I know that they haven’t.  I hope this story helps you better understand what ready really means.