I’ve been considering “coming out” on a topic for some time now to my family (not in the traditional sense, but on a topic which I nevertheless expect will be painful to discuss). The main reason I feel the need to do so is to achieve a state of truthfulness/wholeness—i.e. I want how other people understand me to align with how I understand myself, and to no longer feel the need to behave in a way that aligns with THEIR image of me.
This post gave me a new perspective that “coming out” could mean something slightly different than what I mention above: the idea that there are aspects of ourselves we don’t actively hide, but which we make a point not to share with some or all of our social groups.
Do you think that/did you observe in your own experiences of “generalized coming out” that you found this feeling of wholeness? In other words, do you feel that your interactions with the community will be fundamentally different post “coming out”? Or was the payoff you experienced primarily in the form of knowing that the community now understands you in a more complete way and still accepts you?
I’ve been considering “coming out” on a topic for some time now to my family (not in the traditional sense, but on a topic which I nevertheless expect will be painful to discuss). The main reason I feel the need to do so is to achieve a state of truthfulness/wholeness—i.e. I want how other people understand me to align with how I understand myself, and to no longer feel the need to behave in a way that aligns with THEIR image of me.
This post gave me a new perspective that “coming out” could mean something slightly different than what I mention above: the idea that there are aspects of ourselves we don’t actively hide, but which we make a point not to share with some or all of our social groups.
Do you think that/did you observe in your own experiences of “generalized coming out” that you found this feeling of wholeness? In other words, do you feel that your interactions with the community will be fundamentally different post “coming out”? Or was the payoff you experienced primarily in the form of knowing that the community now understands you in a more complete way and still accepts you?