In short, they made me confront a lot of things that I had been holding back since childhood or my teen years. I guess the first big thing was my gender identify (I finally admitted to myself that I’m non-binary after looking at myself in the mirror for what felt like forever during a trip. It was the first time I saw myself as distinctly not a guy, and also the first time I found myself beautiful.)

The second related more to how I interact and share myself with others. I had somewhat of a “bad” trip where I realized I felt like all my relationships were fake, and then further realized that they felt fake because I was unwilling to have any vulnerability with my loved ones. Friends, family, romantic partners, I had this closed shell that I would not let them penetrate no matter how close we were. I’m still working on this, but I’m getting better most of the time.

Now your turn!