Closets are places you store clothes, shoes or other items. Closets can also be full of secrets that happened to us in the past or things that are currently in lingering. As a child, I loved traveling with my parents and siblings. Growing up traveling from country to country was like breathing to me. I could not stay in one city or country for a long time without itching to move again. Then, I start all over again, with a new environment, new friends, new challenges, and new hopes. Of all those things, nothing would scare me more than making new friends. I wondered if my new friends would be reliable, if they would hurt me like past friends, or if they gossip about me and my life’s issues.
With all these whispers in my thoughts, I still was constantly moving because as I move from country to country, some require different forms of legal documentation. If you lack that documentation like me, the constant change will not only prevent you from completing the requirements, but also put you in an “immigration closet”. It is the secret you can never share with any new or old friends.
Closets are secrets we keep in the different compartments in our thoughts, brain, or mind, while we pretend to be okay as we fully integrate ourselves in our society and answer every question about our well being with “I am fine.” Some pleasant secrets are sweet memories that need to stay in the closet. The secrets that cause you pain or discomfort every time the subject is brought up needs to see some light. I have so many closets such as a marital closet, a financial closet, an abuse closet, a disqualification closet etc. Every week, I will open each closet in detail, to expose the shame, judgement, and stigma that is attached to just being a human who experiences life in a different way.
Reflections:
1. What are some of the things that have put you in one of many life’s closet?
2. Will opening up one of your closets bring relief or solutions?
3. Do you think untold secrets are closet?
