What happens when you’ve spent years hiding a part of yourself—and then, for just a moment, you let the real you become visible?
There can be relief: Someone finally sees me.
And then almost immediately, fear: Oh my God. Someone sees me.
Episode 6 of Light Heals is not my coming-out story. We’re not there yet.
This is about what happens before that.
It’s about putting your toes in the water. Letting a little truth escape. Feeling the freedom of being seen—and then becoming frightened by what that truth might cost.
Who will we disappoint? Who are we trying to please? Who are we trying to protect? And what happens when fear sends us retreating back into the life everyone expects us to live?
For me, hiding eventually became something much bigger than keeping a secret.
It became disconnection.
There was the Carl the world knew—and the Carl inside. And the more distance I created between them, the more complicated life became.
This episode is part of my story, but it isn’t only about sexuality. Maybe you’ve hidden an addiction, a doubt, a dream, loneliness, trouble in a relationship, something you believe—or simply some part of yourself that you’re afraid the people you love won’t accept.
Sometimes coming into the light doesn’t happen all at once.
Sometimes we step toward it, get frightened, and retreat.
But even then, something has changed.
We’ve discovered what the light feels like.
After our eight-part Affirming Theology series, we’re returning to the larger Light Heals journey—and there is much more ahead.
Episode 6: When Hiding Ends
Darkness may be part of the journey, but it doesn’t have to be the destination.
Light Heals.