Karamo encourages LGBTQ+ people to build self-trust so they don't stay in unhealthy relationships out of fear of abandonment. He warns against testing partners by provoking them to see if they'll stay, a habit worth breaking by age 18. Relationships can transform into lifelong friendships, so the stakes feel lower.
Chapters
At this young age, if you can start to practice trusting that people won't leave me and people won't reject me, and I understand what you've been through, so it's gonna be difficult. But the more you can practice that is the more you're not going to get into relationships that aren't healthy and stay in them just because you don't want them to leave. He's not gonna leave, this is family. He's gonna be there for you. I'm gonna tell y'all something, the beauty of sort of LGBT relationships is that We don't have the same definitions or the same, we don't process the same sometimes as straight relationships. My first boyfriend is still to this day my best friend. We call, we talk. He's like a brother to me now. You don't have to fear that you're gonna lose him. But what I will tell you is that fear is bringing up a very negative side of you where you're then saying things to him that are hurtful. And sometimes people who have been rejected, they start to test people to see if they're gonna, I can push them away and say things to see if they're gonna stay. And that's a personality flaw, and you gotta fix that now at 18.
