Being the Queering Community Student Collective Liaison has given me the opportunity to join such an inclusive, welcoming space like Centennial. I know I can authentically be myself with no judgment, and I will always appreciate that as the QCSC liaison and an active student here.
Coming out to myself was never hard; I always knew who my true self was from an early age. It was coming out to others that I always had a harder time opening up about. Being in conflict with external factors of people telling me who I should be has always been the hardest part of my life. I grew up around a lot of religion, and when you grow up in a space where the ideologies people have about you and who you are, belittling your internal struggles, you start to think something is wrong with you. I learned the meaning of self-reflection at an early time in my life because I was doing it a lot. I did a lot of self-reflecting when I was lying in my bed at night, staring up blankly at the ceiling about my identity. As I said, I always knew who I was, so being so hyper-aware of my own identity and needing to reflect on regurgitated ideologies being pushed onto me was very hard at a young age.
As I grew up, I learned to surround myself with people who accepted me for who I am and wouldn’t judge me for being authentically myself. My chosen family has been the biggest motivator for me to be authentically and confidently myself and will always be appreciative of the people I have in my life.