I had to, for the first time in my life, put my happiness before anyone else’s. It was in that selfish act that I found a love for life and for myself I didn’t know I was capable of. Coming out to others wasn’t as hard as accepting it myself. It was in that long life altering journey that I realized this process was far from selfish. In the end, the people I spent years “protecting” with my denial are now even happier because they see and feel the true happiness in me.