The Journey of Me

All of us are on a journey. The journey of life. While many of us are involved in this journey, it is personal to each of us. It is the journey of you. It is the journey of Him. It is the journey of Her. It is the journey of Me. My journey, while not the most unique or the most traumatic or noteworthy, has taken some strange turns throughout the course of my time here. I know I just said that the journeys of life are personal and unique for each of us, many of us do encounter similar challenges, road blocks, mountains, and valleys. My purpose of writing this blog is to share some of my own life detours so as to help others who may be facing similar troubles.

First a little about me. I am 21 years old and I live in Chicago, Illinois. I am a student hoping to earn a degree either in advertising or graphic design. My intersts are pretty simple. I love Netflix, musicals, movies, and all music (except country). I am a super nerd, especially when it comes to Disney (I can successfully quote the first 30 minutes of Emperor's New Groove and all of Lilo and Stitch).

My story is nothing out of the ordinary, but I feel like there are lessons that many of us can learn from. My childhood was normal. I grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (many of you will know this as Mormons). All throughout my childhood and teenage years, I knew I was gay, but I was not willing to admit...to myself or anyone. Mormons weren't supposed to be gay. We were told that being gay is a sin. Naturally, that wasn't an option for me. So, I did what I loved doing...I put on a show. I created a character for myself: the perfect, straight Mormon boy. I went to church, I went to Brigham Young University, served an 18 month mission for my church in Scotland and Ireland. I put on this show for 21 years. Around year 19, things got hairy. Waking up every morning, and having to figure out how I was going to prove to everyone that this character was reality got to be so exhausting. I got so tired and started to sink into a slump. A slump that got so bad that I wondered why I should even continue on in this journey if all it did was bring me misery. Around my 21st birthday, I decided that it was time to start bing true to who I was. I turned away from the Mormon faith and accepted facts about myself. I was gay. I wasn't the perfect Mormon everyone thought I was. And I was ready to live the journey that I was meant to live.

Through the course of these blog posts, I will share some of the challenges that I have faced on the journey of me in the hopes that some of what I have experienced will help others in the journey of them.