I have let some people in, such as coming out to a couple people at work. This has worked for me, to a certain extent.

The second part of getting this done was to realize more about my personality. I’m a bit introverted, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t have to become a social butterfly because that’s just not me.

The third part of getting this done was to know that I don’t have to let everybody in. To the homophobic racists idiots I meet, some of whom I have to work with, well I’ll just walk away and ignore them. I don’t have to let anybody in that I don’t want to.

Also, I think that I hide who I really am from people, but I have realized that this is not true. They see what they need to see of me. All the bad qualities that I was afraid to let anyone see, this isn’t actually badness in me, I was just judging myself too harshly, because I grew up with a VERY critical parent.