Coming out isn’t always easy. Even if you know your family and friends will be supportive, it can be an overwhelming process. If you’re worried about how your loved ones will react, it can feel downright devastating before it even happens.
That fear shouldn’t keep you from coming out and living your truth.
If you’re in the process of coming out and haven’t mustered up the courage to tell anyone yet, consider trying therapy. Not only can therapy help with teaching you the skills to build your confidence and speak openly, but it can help you address any underlying anxiety or stress that could be hindering your coming out process.
Still not convinced?
Let’s take a closer look at how therapy can be a useful tool as you come out to family and friends.
Accepting Your Identity
One of the most important aspects of coming out is learning about your true identity and accepting who you are. If you’ve only recently come to the realization that you belong in the LGBTQIA+ community or that you identify as someone different from what your friends and family know, it’s unlikely a switch will flip overnight.
It’s okay to be excited about that new identity, but it’s also okay to feel a little overwhelmed and uncertain. After all, you’ve lived your whole life with one identity, and now that’s changing. It will take time to discover and accept who you truly are.
Therapy can help. Not only will you learn to accept your identity, but you’ll be proud of it. That can fuel you with the self-esteem and confidence you need to come out to friends and family.
Identifying Your Safe Zones
As you go through therapy, you can also work on developing a plan or strategy for coming out. Maybe you’re fully confident in who you are and who you want to be, but you’re unsure how the people in your life will handle it.
When you establish a plan to safely move forward with coming out, you can feel more confident in doing so. Think about who you want to tell first. You can talk with your therapist about how you think those people will react, what you want to say to them, and what you expect from your relationships with them as you go forward in this new chapter of life.
This is an easy way to identify who you feel safest with. You might want to eventually tell everyone in your life. However, it’s often easier to come out to those you know will be supportive first. Therapy can help you determine who those people are.
Having a Place to Be Yourself
There’s no ideal timeline for the coming out process. Don’t let anyone make you feel as though you need to rush to tell everyone.
Sometimes, it can have a safe place to open up without judgment or without the risk of creating issues in relationships. Therapy is a fantastic place for that. You can express yourself freely and openly without concern, and you might even end up learning a bit more about yourself along the way.
It can be helpful to work with a therapist who is familiar with the LGBTQIA+ community, so you can make sure you’re getting the support and understanding you deserve.
No matter where you are on your coming out journey, therapy can help you take the next step forward without feeling so overwhelmed. If you’re ready to reach out your hand for support, feel free to Contact Us or set up a complimentary consultation to get started. Most importantly, recognize right away that you’re not alone in this process, and though it might seem scary now, it will get better.