I am Who I am?...! - Chasin’ my Rainbow in 2020

“Who am I?” - “I Am who I am?”

It is early in the morning and I just woke up. I am in my bathroom and asking myself these questions while I see myself in the mirror. But is that really me, who I see in the mirror?

My thoughts begin to wander. Growing up there were so many defined boxes, labels, and categorizations by society that we all had to fit in. Somehow I always felt that this was not for me, but how was I, as a person of 6 years, of 10 years, or even of 14 years, supposed to react to this inner feeling? I was actually scared to talk to my parents, and my brother about how I felt and how I identify myself.

Because I realized how society, family, and friends “judged” the world, and coming out was not really as easy as people think it was in the 1990’s, or early 2000’s - though I believe it never ever is easy to do for anyone!

I tried to somehow fit into some of these “boxes”, but finally got the confidence to take the step to come out through the support of some of my closest friends.

There is a lot of literature out there on how to best come out, how to tell your family, and on how a family should act/react, but reality teaches different lessons. 

Despite common belief that you only have to come out once in life, I spoke to many of my current and previous colleagues, and we do agree that being different to the so-called mainstream of society always requires you to come out over and over again: Be it when starting a new job, meeting new people, moving to a new neighborhood, working out with new gym mates etc. And it always makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable to explain that when being asked how my girlfriend, or wife is doing, to say “Well, I am single!”, or “My partner/significant other is great!”

Based on these, and many other, of my own experiences, I’m always looking for ways to make it easier to speak about how we identify ourselves. Working in HR and spending most of my time in recruitment, I have had the opportunity to foster positive change and hopefully make it easier for us all to be who we are.

Thanks to Avery Dennison welcoming a culture of diversity and inclusion!

Last year we founded our European Employee Resource Group UNITE as a safe-space European LGBT+ community. It is a great place for everyone to join, no matter how you identify - All employees are welcome to join, share and contribute to making us a more inclusive and safe work environment for LGBT+, since “Life Gets Better Together + YOU”! I am so excited about what is to come!

And, as a final thought, I hope that in the near future others will experience the same as me when I say that I am glad and proud to say: