Our stories help us feel less alone

The internet (rightfully) gets a lot of flak for a lot of things, but one thing I still love about it is that I have found so many other people whose stories and experiences I can relate to. This is the main thing that continues to attract me to blogging: I love having the opportunity to show little bits of myself and my world, and I love the feeling that comes when I read something that resonates with me on a personal level, even if it’s just something trivial (“Yes! Someone else thinks junk food tasted better in 1988!").

There have also been many times when others’ stories have helped me figure out truths about myself. Sometimes I read things that hit me a certain way but I wasn’t sure why until much later; it could be that I hadn’t done enough self-examination, or maybe the right language for it hadn’t really existed before. Sometimes these stories were clarifying lenses that made me look at my life up to that point in a different way.

I find it comforting to know there are other people within my orbit who have gone through similar experiences in life that I have. I feel a bond with other people who tell stories about living with mental illness or neurodivergence, leaving a religious upbringing or coming to terms with their identity as a queer person; if there’s a combination of these, the bond feels even stronger. It sucks that we’ve had to deal with some of the same issues, but being able to share experiences makes me feel less alone.

A few weeks ago, I asked my Facebook friends who are also LGBTQ whether they were raised religious like I was. I got some pretty candid and eye-opening responses; my own upbringing wasn’t as strict as some, but it was reassuring to know how many others in my orbit also had to deal with messages that they had to repress their truest selves.

I read a lot of memoirs and autobiographies; lately I’ve been reading a lot by trans authors. I’ve long wondered how trans people figure out that they needed to take those steps to feel at home in their bodies, especially since I know a few people in the “real world” (and many more online) who have transitioned (even if hormones or surgery aren’t involved).

I want to hear your stories. Any of them. If you’re trans, how did you figure it out? If you grew up religious and queer, what was that like? How do you deal with your mental illness? You don’t have to tell me who you are (the e-mail field is optional), but if you have a story to tell, fill out this form (it goes straight to my e-mail and will not be published publicly like a comment).