Sexuality and loneliness
Hey everyone,
Recently I have really been struggling with my sexuality. The main thing is that I have not told anyone that I am bisexual and I don't feel ready to. Since I haven't come out, I feel extremely alone in my struggles. I consider myself a generally happy person, but the lows I experience feel much more severe than just being sad. I have many friends, and a good bunch of close friends, though I can't help but feel alone because no one I know can relate to the struggles that I'm experiencing with my sexuality. I don't know anyone that is LGBTQ+ who I am close with and feel secure enough to talk about my struggles, and this causes me to feel extremely misunderstood by people. I feel like I have no one who can relate to me and help me embrace my sexuality and this causes me to feel extremely lonely despite having friends. Recently I've been feeling more and more out of place with people, and while my parents try to be supportive they often say things which make me not want to have vulnerable conversations with them about the way that I'm feeling. I think the main reason that I am reaching out is that I feel like no one I know can relate to me, and I'm also not ready to talk to the people I know about my sexuality. I'd love to be able to be in contact with more people who understand the way I feel, because being in this alone is getting increasingly harder and I cannot continue at this rate. Thank you for reading.
Comments
I think most LGBTIQA+ people would relate to everything you're saying @Matt12345 being around queer people has helped me understand myself so much. It's really good that you were able to recognise that you are needing community - we are here for you!
It's wild to me how much this sounds like how I've felt before @Matt12345 ! This kind of loneliness really hit me hard when I didn't have any LGBT friends, some of my darkest moments were in that time. Coming out helped a little bit, even though all my friends at the time were straight and cis they were supportive and one of them even introduced me to another friend of theirs who's gay. At some point I found out about Minus18 and started going to their events, and I made a lot of friends there which was amazing! At some point that feeling of loneliness left me and honestly, I didn't even notice. It just felt right to be around people like me.
There's also plenty of smaller, local LGBT social groups for young people which are great! I've tended to find out about them through my local council's newsletter, and from flyers at my local library and Headspace. Covid-19 might have changed things up a little bit in that you might not be able to go to those places and maybe not all these groups are active at the moment, but I reckon if you call your local library, headspace or some other community center and ask them if they know something you could get involved in they might have some good recommendations still 
It's great to see you reaching out on here, I think you'll find yourself right at home in the threads @Taylor-RO mentioned!
Hi @Matt12345,
You don't have to tell people about your sexuality if you don't want to. If I am honest, there are some people I would never discuss my sexuality with. That is totally okay! You are allowed to choose who you tell and when. Even so, it must be so difficult to not be able to talk about your sexuality with other people.. especially if you are struggling. I can totally understand how that would make you feel so alone in all of this 
We have heaps of posts from other members sharing their experience with sexuality and bisexuality. We also have a 'Gay Teen Chat' for fun and casual conversation (feel free to introduce yourself here if you like). We also have a special discussion here where the community gathers to answer some specific questions about sexuality. We also have some articles on sexuality which include some tips and more people sharing their own experience.
For when you are feeling down, there are some LGBTQIA+ services here but also some more general services if you need to chat to someone immediately.
