You’ll Never Be Free Until You Can Be Still With Your Pain

I grew up in an unstable, unpredictable home that held violence and fear.

I was raised by loving, ethically idealistic people who, at times, acted in ways that revealed a huge gap between those ideals and how they actually functioned in the world.

School wasn’t much better. I was frequently bullied, pushed to the ground, and called fag and queer. Violence occurred at home. Violence occurred at school. It felt like there was no…