Navigating the Coming Out Journey—and realizing that it’s a lifelong process—is not an easy voyage. Growing up in the closet and constantly denying myself well into my young adult years made life overwhelming and unmanageable, and it took me several years of looking for affirming therapy until I finally found a therapist who I could be myself around. Learning how to accept yourself in a hetero-normative society is something that brings shame, fear, confusion, pain, suffering, and loss. However, as difficult as life may have been for you thus far, my hope as a therapist is to help you sail out of those dark waters and follow the compass to a brighter place filled with peace, understanding, acceptance, and authenticity.