“If we are not what we have done, not what our parents or caretaker told us that we were. If we are not the story or the label, the color or the sound. If we are not what the world placed on us, WHO ARE WE? Can you hear a string being plucked somewhere inside, longing to make a song of you? Can you hear anywhere inside, a faint voice that wants to stand up from the rubble? Is there a place in you that is moving against the tide of the story? Can you hear inside a sound, wanting to be made into a song?
We have been built from the milk of our mothers; the bent backs of our fathers. We have inherited a pattern, a rhythm of sound. And, yet some part of us want to live as though it were not - besieged. Some part lives outside the box of this rhythm, this pattern, and plays a drum inside its own heart. Whatever courage you can muster to move into this different sound, I urge you to find it. Look to step on the other road, for the one that we are all on, is paved with sad things that do not suit what we know inside. Whatever longing or yearning we feel to return to the soft path of our hearts, is the true path. So, now here, on the breath we are given, in the space we are together, we have the opportunity to grow in wisdom, and moving ever so gently to another song. One yet to be written, but being sung none-the-less in some far off room inside of us. Our heart is the kingdom we left long ago, that holds the new tune. So quietly now, we place our hand on our hearts, and we breathe. We acknowledge the mire we have innocently been born into.”
These beautifully written and narrated words by Sarah Blondin are so true for many of us, who have learned who we are, or who we are supposed to be, by family, friends, culture, school, religion, ethnicity - rather than by self reflection. It often takes an exceptionally safe, affirming, and non-judgemental space for us to be able to listen to the quiet rhythm of sound in our hearts trying to allow our authentic self space to emerge. While this is true of all of us in some capacity, it is especially true for those who are wishing to explore their gender identity. Those who wish to explore their gender identity need support free from judgement and with the right for self-determination. Mental health is directly linked with the ability to be authentic and explore what that means, even if this is in contrast to what a system believes is the truth for another human being.
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