So, I thought I'd share this as it was a positive experience for me and it kind of fits into the Coming Out category. Often times when we face depression, there may not be an external cause. Sometimes it's completely internal and it's hard to do anything about it though. When the causes are external though, we can do something about it or we can just sit back an let it envelop us. Too often in life I've been guilty of the latter. After a rather depressing weekend though, I chose to do something about the aspects I could change, rather than simply laying back and letting it eat me alive. Some who've read other posts I've made on EC know that I'm having issues with having to hide who I am at home because of a particular family member I live with, and that has been eating me alive inside. Lately too, although my mother and sister are supportive and say they're there for me, they continue to talk about their beliefs on the LBGT community, particularly after the recent election in my state, and it's been depressing me; trying to mesh the fact that they want to support me with the fact that they look down upon my views and beliefs as wrong. All in all, it's had me in an extreme funk for the last several days. Though I'm still trying to work through it, I had a very positive experience tonight that elevated my mood a lot. I wound up driving out to my best friend's to hang out with her and her boyfriend for a few hours as they've been two people who have accepted me, agree with my beliefs, and told me they'd be behind me through everything. On the way there, I decided I was going to go female with them for the very first time. I told them this when I arrived, and used their bathroom to change. When I came out of the bathroom as Alexis to them for the very first time, it was like nothing had changed. They took a moment or two to take it in, and we talked about it for a few minutes of course, but after that, we fell into our normal conversation patterns, talked about our lives and work (We all work in the same place) and so on. The only one to even mention the difference was me once or twice. Other than that they accepted it without batting an eyelash, and told me that it was definitely something that they'd be able to get used to. I've felt so good since then I got to spend about three hours with them as Alexis and it was wonderful and filled me with hope for my future. I still can't get over the fact that it wasn't weird at all, on either side. I know it won't always be like this, and that even most of the people who accept me are going to need a little time to make the adjustment, but this was wonderful nonetheless. My last post or two on EC have been a little darker in tone, so I wanted to share something pleasant.
I'm glad to hear your mood has improved, and congrats on taking the steps to make that happen! I know how difficult that can be, and I'm trying to be more active in helping myself overcome my problems. It must have been awesome to be able to share your true self with other people in a more "normal" setting (not a bar), and not have that be the focus of the conversation. As you come out to more people, hopefully stories like this will become more common.
That's awesome Lexi! It's always great to have supportive friends. Here's hoping for more amazing stories like this in your future.
There are so many great things to this story. Your courage and their acceptance speaks volumes about your relationship. I hope they see the privilege of experiencing the real you. Heartwarming
Thank you guys. It was a great night I must have been pretty tired when I posted this because I'm reasonably sure I thought I posted it in Coming Out Stories as it was a coming out of sorts. Oh well. Just another reason why you should never type tired :lol:
