What do I do if my family finds out I like MLP?

Dear reader,

I am a 19-year-old male, and I am a fan of MLP just like the rest of you. However, I have a problem. My entire life, I have grown up in a staunchly conservative, Christian household. While I do love my family, I am terrified of their judgement. I have been judged heavily by every member of my family while growing up. If I did anything slightly feminine or slightly unconventional, I would be subject to teasing, occasional harassment, and open judgement. Now that I am an adult however, I have found myself to be exploring the side of myself that I have kept in a metaphorical ‘box’ for so long. Ponies, have become a part of that discovery. I love this show, I love the music, the characters, the story, the world, the fandom, I love everything about it. It has made me extremely happy these last few months.

It may be easy for you too just tell me to, “Don’t care what they think” or “Just do what you love” but with my anxiety it’s just not that simple. The fear of being figured out looms over me every waking moment. I have spent hours calculating and practicing for how I will react if said discovery happens to take place. Nothing that I have thought of seems to ease my worries. To those of you who are either in a similar situation and made it past that confrontation, or those of you who have helped someone, or anyone willing to give advice, what do you think should be my best course of action, in the event that I am confronted about this?

Thank you for your time.

-Anonymous Pony Fan.

@Background Pony #DF34
🤷

I take it you live with your family? You’re not going to like this and I’m sure it won’t be easy, but the best thing to do is to keep this part of yourself secret until you get your own place.

holy wall of text batman

I got into MLP in February 2017.
September, I told my parents and….
They don’t mind. They’re chill with it. So I guess I got off lucky. ^ ^

Mine don’t care either.

It sounds like your problem is not that your family might find out that you like something, but that you have an unresolved or untreated anxiety disorder.

Even if you ‘unlike’ MLP and get rid of all evidence that you ever liked it, you will still have ‘something else’ that you will be afraid of being found out.

Deal with the ‘afraid of being found out’ instead.

The longer you let an anxiety issue go, the worse it can get, and it is the kind of thing that is SUPER happy to transfer itself to whatever the latest or newest ‘thing to be anxious about’.

Untreated, it can become a really debilitating disability that can haunt the rest of your life.

So, you might wanna get that looked at.

Mine didn’t care.

I guess just pour your heart out and admit that you like it because it’s a really great show, I’m sure they’ll understand