I've been thinking a lot about coming out lately...
Not in a nostalgic way. I definitely do not miss that part. haha
It's more that after enough time passes, it gets easy to tuck the whole thing away. You stop having to explain yourself as much. The little mental calculation of can I say this here? gets quieter.
Lately I've been remembering what that felt like.
Watching people get talked about like their lives are some abstract debate brings me right back there. It's not the same story and I'm not pretending it is. But I remember the fear of telling the truth and wondering who would still be there afterward.
That part feels familiar.
I keep coming back to something I wrote in the original post: I'm trying to treat cognitive dissonance like a highlighter, not caution tape.
If I don't understand something and my first reaction is discomfort, maybe that's the part I should look at a little harder.
I don't have to completely understand someone else's life to believe them.
Anyway... that's where my head has been.
Love y'all. And be good to the people around you who are still doing that math. <3