I get to listen to different people here in 7 Cups. It's great! It's great to be alive <3

IGTBA and celebrate my friend's 21st bday with her.

#IGTBA because..

God has given me this life and I'm blessed.

My family supports me.

My girlfriend loves me.

I have so much to prove to the world.

I have a purpose and that is to help others. :)

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Thank you Laura! This post made me realize how glad I am to be alive! <3

Had a light breakfast and a good work out with stretching this morning. It helps my energy level and my "feel good factor" goes up. Try it.

igtba bc i get to see my mom this weekend :)

#IGTBA because I feel hopeful for the future. I am beginning to feel safer and grounded. I am grateful to have finally joined this community!

#IGTBA because every time I visit my parent's house my dog runs to the door to greet me

IGTBA because i know there are people out there that love me. i you guys back.

igtba bc today is the forum open house @poeticguy

Cute story:

I had previously been interpreting the same emotions differently depending on the gender of the person I was with, due to gender roles and heterosexism. After about a year allying with the local queer community, I realized this, and changed my label from hetero to pan. I went to my parent's home for the summer and decided to clean out my literal closet. There were like 7 "memory boxes" of stuff I accumulated over the years, and as I went through them, I found this story I wrote when I was 6. I had to reread the first sentence to check if I read it right. It was a coming out story about a bi reindeer. It was really flippin cute, with a happy ending too :)

Tangential thoughts:

Part of me felt really validated, as if this story I wrote 14 years ago can prove who I am now, but still. Counterarguments against homophobia/biphobia sometimes revolve around the person feeling that way their entire life, so to feel like that was true for me too helped. I feel like I'm learning to trust my feelings again, and realizing my orientation is one example of this, and it serves as an example for realizing and understanding other things about myself. It also introduces me to cool stuff like self care, understanding how some identities (marginalized genders, orientations, race, ability, etc.) are marginalized, important social/mental/financial/other resources, health education, etc. It feels dramatic to say "I'm learning to trust my feelings again", but it's true. I learn how other friends, family, and cultural norms inform my opinions. I'm more prone to ask myself why when I think something interesting is bad or when I think I should disregard my feelings about something. Being active in the queer (and feminist) community has mad me less stressed, less judgemental, and more healthy mentally/physically/financially/socially, etc.

Lol, I was just planning on sharing the story but whatevs. Hope you enjoyed reading :)