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Aleca
01-01-2011, 10:22 AM
I came out to my sister on the telephone the other day, I knew she would be supportive as she was. The subject of CDing was actually shortened by a greater concern of her daughter trying to hurt herself, which was why she called. I knew I would come out to her someday soon as we have started to chat more, especially once we started talking about family dysfunctionality and self esteem issues, making it easy to talk about it.
I just told her it's a long subject to talk about that would take too much time and would email her about it. It felt great telling her about it but also knew it would leave me with mixed emotions after thinking about it more.

The negative part about coming out in this case was, well you know the saying "the truth hurts," so now it's like o.k. you can't lie about yourself anymore, without making a fool of yourself to my sister, looking like a wimp or a coward and puts pressure on me to just completely come out all at once to the rest of the world, rather than pace myself and take my time as I am used to doing.
The other thing is that coming out makes me appear as a liar and loser of a husband by expressing what I am inside. It threatens the inner image of myself as the perfect gentleman husband, makes me walk around and think all day about myself hiding all this stuff to my wife. (She knows I did CDing in my past though)
In my email to my sister I mentioned about 95% certain of my cross dressing but left an uncertainty and open door about maybe being TS also. So in other words came off as somebody confused and not totally grounded in my feelings. That lead to another worry about myself presenting myself off as instable.

What I learned in telling others is to be 100% of your feelings, whatever they might be and to be careful what you wish for when you do come out. It relieves anxiety and fear to come out of the closet however new anxieties and fears replace the old.

PretzelGirl
01-01-2011, 10:47 AM
I applaud you for the honesty and opening up to your sister. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but I wonder about the timing? If she was calling you about an issue with her daughter, her mind may have not been in the right state to process something like this. So did she take anything away from it and is she really reading your email or is she glancing at it and moving on because her mind is on her daughter? But that barrier is broken, so I would say that you should handle this accordingly.

I would hesitate bringing it up until you feel she has gotten past this issue with her daughter. Then I would revisit it when she is probably thinking clearer and the two of you can discuss it completely and answer any of her questions. The statement about the daughter trying to hurt herself implies a high stress family situation. So please be cognisant of this and let your outing be on the back burner and support your sister through what could be a very trying time.

It is good that you are able to come out to her. I hope it all goes well and I hope everything goes well for your niece.

anonymousinmaryland
01-01-2011, 11:06 AM
"It relieves anxiety and fear to come out of the closet however new anxieties and fears replace the old." Thank you. I am now having second thoughts about coming out to my sister. I thought everything would be good, but now, I must give it more thought.

Aleca
01-01-2011, 12:05 PM
Thanks Sue, I thought about that and made sure I wasn't selfish. I told myself to wait at least a couple days before writing it to gather all my thoughts (still wish I could have waited another couple days though) In my email I wrote suggestions and concern for her daughter (trying to kill herself) very first thing and spent half the email on that because I knew that was a much more urgent issue.

I have found, Maryland that books about fear, anxiety (I have one book called Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Dummies workbook which is very good) are actually much more helpful than literature or support about CDing, TG's, etc... because they are tailor made to what is in our individual minds (writing your very own thoughts - all of them in a journal is good therapy too). That might help you farther along with who to tell but indeed I have found out that anxiety and fear are just like problems. Problems never go away completely, you just inherit new ones.

Jill Devine
01-01-2011, 03:39 PM
You should be very proud of yourself. Coming out isn't easy and you have achieved a huge milestone. Well done. Just be patient with yourself and take baby steps.

Michelle 51
01-01-2011, 07:27 PM
I'm giving serious though about coming out to my adult children but once I crack that door open I'm afraid it will get torn out of my hands.

marny
01-02-2011, 03:48 AM
If you want to come dear, there is only one way. And isn"t on the phone.