"The initial shock of coming out was strange and a bit uncomfortable. But after a few weeks, everything got so much better. The best way to describe it is that I simply felt light, free of a burdensome secret that was weighing on not only my mind but my entire being. After I was able to utter the words "I am gay" to other people, I was overcome with relief, as if saying those words purged built-in toxins from my body. I felt alive again. Healed from the inside. Renewed. Empowered."

“Everyone thinks their monsters are visible to the world, but they're not - they're figments of our overblown imaginations, warped projections of our own self-image. Once you stop seeing them, they'll fully disappear. Yes, it's that easy.”

“Knowing what I know now, there are a few things I would love to tell my younger self: have faith in yourself and what you're doing, keep on trekking, and trust that everything will fall into place. It's okay not to know where you're headed, so long as you keep moving forward. Just pick up the pieces along the way, accrue knowledge, keep learning, and keep going. Eventually, you'll reach a place in your life where you'll stop, glance over your shoulder, see the completed circle, and finally understand the reason why your journey took you down a strange path.”

“You're a bud covered in snow in the garden of your mind. Just wait for spring.”

“And all of this is unfolding before my very eyes on an average day, begging the question: WHY. IS. EVERYONE. IN. SUCH. A. DAMN. HURRY? Why the constant rush?”

“I can't pinpoint the exact moment in time when I realised I was falling in love, but my move to California had a lot to do with it. Once immersed in an openly gay environment, I quickly understood that men loving men was normal. It was BEAUTIFUL, in fact. And let's just say in West Hollywood, you see a lot of gay people. They're everywhere, unashamedly being true to who they are, and who they love. It was the single most refreshing thing to witness. Those couples became a symbol of hope to me, and to see them firsthand made me think it was possible for me to be like them. To love. To be happy. It was actually possible to dream of the future. The future I wanted to have.”

“Parents don't understand cool. Never have. Never will.”