I was inspired this week by the coming out of a certain Wizards player in the NBA finally coming out to the world and being the first openly gay athlete in the major 4 sports (NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL). I was struck by how many people were supportive of him. And it got me thinking:
In every situation where there is something difficult to do, there are many people who will support you. There will be a few detractors. Goodness knows that, in my life, though I am straight, there have been so many times I have been discouraged. But don't let those naysayers get to you. They will keep you from being who you are. Don't hide yourself; embrace yourself. That NBA player probably has twice as many friends as he had before, plus so many people idolizing him for doing the world's most simple truth, and that is to be true to oneself.
If you deny who you are, you become miserable. If you become miserable, you cannot become comfortable in your own skin. Goodness knows how many times it took me to realize that if I do not really embrace myself, acknowledge that I have challenges, and learn how to deal with them, as well as found a very supportive community on Facebook and elsewhere, I would be depressed out of my mind.
I would like to say to that Wizards player, Jason Collins, to keep being who he is. He did a very brave thing. Unfortunately, acknowledgement of yourself and who you are as an individual should not be brave. It should be commonplace, and people should generally be more accepting of who you are.
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