Episode 105: Force Your Presence
When I heart the phrase, “Acknowledging one’s identity is suicide prevention” I got it! This episode of Something Positive for Positive People features someone who can teach us a thing or two or three about the power of self-expression. Staci Bratten shares her experience as a trans-woman and how her entire life, she pushed down her identity to conform to society’s standards of how she presented prior to her liberation to be herself.
After seeing a therapist at age 35, Staci was asked if she knew why she was so angry and just didn’t know. Her therapist said three words that sent her into days of healing tears that washed away the layers of anger surrounding her true self, “You’re a transsexual”.
Staci goes on to share how she committed herself to no longer hiding who she was and for the following 11 years (to date) she’s been living, THRIVING more confident as herself than she ever was as a white man with that privilege.
Our conversation left me challenged to say the least. SPFPP began as a suicide prevention resource, evolving into a navigation tool to work through a herpes diagnosis. I do not KNOW where we’re going but thanks to this conversation it’s safe to say this is still evolving. Staci’s presence in this space just further expanded SPFPP beyond my range of perspective. I hope you learn as much from listening as I learned from recording.
