Video Transcription

QLives: Sophia’s Story (Bisexuality)

There’s a quote I read from, of all people, Oprah, the other day: “Doing the best in this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

Despite the fact that I—and I think everyone—have days where you just feel like crap, and like moving is hard, let alone moving optimally, this quote is how I try to think about the world and how to live from day to day within it. And this is why finding a way to be fully present and to energise myself by expending positive energy is so important.

We’ve all got a complex relationship with what works with our bodies, but dance is one thing that works for me. I didn’t do it professionally—I can’t follow steps to save my life—but none of that is the point. For me to be happy, being engaged is more important than being smooth and seamless.

I came out first as bisexual at nineteen and then later recognised pansexual as the term most fitting for my identity. To be honest, I’ve had a very privileged lived experience in terms of coming out and in terms of my sexual orientation. And I think that it’s important I acknowledge that—both to keep this honest and because that sense of acceptance from my friends and family was undoubtedly crucial in helping me grow from the experiences I did have in my teenage years with depression and anxiety.

In my view, your lived experience of your gender and your sexuality is pretty intimately connected to your mental health, whether you are LGBTIQ or otherwise. And I feel the same psychological processes that help reduce discrimination and prejudice of all sorts are also inherently valuable to mental health and happiness.

There are not always consolations in life when something bad happens to you, but there is always the ability to exercise empathy and understanding. Improving that ability in myself and receiving that good treatment from others is a huge part of what got me through my mentally less healthy times and what built me into who I am.

And no matter how broken or flawed you feel, you need to know that for as long as you’re on the planet, you have the capacity to put effort towards positive action.

Video by Q Life