Being LGBT and a teen can feel impossible at times.
There’s enough going on for teens already. A stronger and stronger sense of independence, of wanting to do my own thing, of having my own friends and life, my own self and opinions.
It’s a time when romantic relationships can become the focus of everyone around us and where drama between friends can become a bit too common.
At the same time, stress from school is intense. Whether it’s pressure to get the perfect grades, or a desperate attempt to just do a bit better. For some, school feels like a torture chamber, their own personal version of hell.
And home can be almost as confusing and difficult, with relationships that once seemed to work now feeling strained and difficult to even have normal conversations!
Different in a real way.
LGBT teens have this deep, at times incredibly intense, other layer added on top of all of that: we are different in a real way. We can feel it. We know it.
And that is so scary or anxiety-inducing. Or if it’s not scary, it’s at least confusing and at times deeply disorienting.
How does someone be gay in middle school or high school? How does someone find the room to really question their sexuality or gender identity?
Teen life is meant to be a time of discovery, of learning who we are, of how to work with who we are, of making friendships and connections with people that help us become who we want to be.
Gender identity exploration or even gender transitioning is an incredibly important part of that for some. Sexuality exploration or even coming out as gay is an incredibly important part of that for gay teens.
But let’s be brutally honest about something. The world is still not built for gay or transgender people. For those whose gender doesn’t fit into a simple box, or for those whose sexuality is not like the majority, the world is still just… harder for us.
Whether it is the glaring form of family rejection or even violent bullying at school. Or whether it is the more subtle ways we feel excluded from conversations, or like no one gets us, it’s just… harder.
At times, this is so hard that it overwhelms us, crushes us even, floods us with anxiety, makes us feel like we just can’t get life to work right.
We look out on the world, and we don’t see ourselves reflected. We think it must be us. That we are the problem. And we can’t figure it out.
You can be who you are…
I have good news for you, my younger LGBT siblings: you are not the problem. Your gender or the gender you get excited about is not the problem. You are perfect just like you are.
But often you need help figuring things out. Or maybe you’ve figured some things out, but life still seems to be working against you. Or maybe it’s a family relationship that really needs help.
I understand. And I care, so much.
I haven’t met you yet, but you matter to me. I’m a member of our LGBT family. At the same time, I’m a trained, licensed therapist with the education and experience to help you develop the skills you need to be where you want to be, to get where you want to be.
I’ve had the privilege of working with dozens of LGBT teens, helping them find what they need, to explore what they need to explore, to understand what they need to understand, to make the changes they need to make, to become who they want to become.
You don’t have to keep struggling the way you are without any help.
Send me a message today at (302) 497-5023. Let’s talk about what the next steps could look like for you.