I used to have crushes on guys when I was younger but after I came out as pansexual I’ve started to wonder if I’m lesbian and if those crushes were me just suppressing my feelings. Any suggestions?

It's entirely possible that your theory about the situation is accurate. However, it could also just be possible that you're attracted to women more often than men. It's perfectly acceptable to be pan, but still lean more heavily in one direction. In the end, you're going to be attracted to whoever you're going to be attracted to, so just use whatever label (or lack thereof) you feel most comfortable with. :)

One of the biggest things that really helped me figure out where I am in terms of my orientation was learning that there is a difference between sexual and romantic orientation. For a lot of people, these two line up; however, in others, they may differ. For example, someone may be bisexual/heteroromantic - in other words they may experience sexual attraction to two different genders/groups, but only experience romantic attraction to the opposite gender. In another example, someone may be asexual/panromantic - so they may never (or rarely) experience sexual attraction, but are completely capable of developing romantic crushes on anyone. Now, I can't say for sure since you are the only one who can determine this for yourself, but it sounds like you may have different sexual and romantic orientations. Or, you might just need time to reflect on your experiences and explore each label further - which is perfectly okay! If you are not familiar with the difference between sexual and romantic attraction though, I would definitely recommend taking some time to learn more about them. There are a ton of resources online that discuss non-aligning orientations, particularly on AVEN. Give them a search, hopefully you can find some use in them. Good luck!

You will know who you are and how you feel when you know how love truly feels. You could kiss both genders, if you wanted to, and see. Look at and think about how comfortable you feel with both genders. There's nothing wrong with you, don't ever think that. You will find your true soulmate. I promise. There's always people out there that you trust that you can let out all your feelings to. You have a community, 7 cups, your friends, family. There is nothing to worry about. Everyone will help you on your journey to find out who you truly are and who you truly belong with.

It's not uncommon to have days, weeks, even months where you have more of a preference towards a specific gender even if you typically like more than one. This doesn't mean you have stopped liking them. For instance I'm biromantic, but sometimes I only crush on girls, and visa versa. Of course, if you really are a lesbian rather than a pansexual, that's fine too! Sexuality can be really hard to understand about ourselves, and it's never too late to realize who you like. Society's pressure us to only be attracted the opposite sex can definitely cause us to try suppress what we really feel. Give it time, give it thought, and don't worry. There's no rush :)