Personal Narrative: My Gender Journey

I grew up as the ignored daughter. The first child of two very smart, diligent working class carribean immigrant parents. My parents worked tirelessly to give my sibling and I everything we needed. We never had to worry about where our next meal was comming from and we never wore hand me downs, for all intents and purposes, we were blessed. The one thing my parents passed down to us was religion. It was our way of life.

For as long as I could remember, church three times a week was a way of life for me. From a very young age, bible scriptures were instilled in me, almost like affirmations that were supposed to wash over me and make sense...They didn't. I learned that God didn't make any mistakes, not to question what I was taught, that God designated me male at birth for a reason. As I got older and began to embark on my gender journey, The scriptures I was taught no longer seemed applicable to my situation. They felt hollow and meaningless to me, because there weren't any specific passages on
I had someone in my corner who wanted to be there for me in the way I needed them to. It had me thinking that I wanted to live a life where I could give back, and be that person for others, which is why I now want to become a Licsensed Clinical Social Worker. I believe part of my life's work is in healing my psyche, and changing my internal monologue, the parts of me that were told that I wouldn't ammount to anything or achieve anything of significance. Part of my self care is understanding that self love requires being present in my own life, showing up for myself and Believing in myself and in all the good I can do in this world, and securing the best life possible for myself. When I look into my mind's eye and see where I want to be in 20 years, It involves healing and Helping others discover the power they possess in themselves, in the same way that therapy had done for me as a