Ep. 26 - Authentic Living with Joey MacGilvray

Have you ever compromised your values or your truth in order to make someone like you, accept you, or approve of you? Most humans have. Even though we aspire to "be ourselves," it's not always easy to live authentically—especially if the true, authentic version of you doesn't fit your community's (or your family's) mold.

This is exactly the situation in which my dear friend (and today's guest) Joey MacGilvray found himself as a gay kid growing up in Medford, MA in the 1980s. Listen as Joey shares his incredible story including:
- why he never thought he'd live past 40
- where he found support, community and positive role models (even in the most challenging, darkest of times)
- how he's managed to live so authentically for over five decades—in spite of immense pressure, frequent rejection, and even violence
- the mental-emotional fitness practices that have supported him and his husband of 23 years
- and so much more!

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Quotable:

"I've always had a lot to say. I've always had a lot of thought. It just was not something that was right for me, I got tired of just fitting into that mold. So I decided I was gonna take a different approach and be authentic."

"I never stopped being me. In fact, my, one of my best friends to this day, who ended up coming out to me years later said to me, 'you've just never been anything else but you, even in high school when it could get you in trouble, it could get you beat up, it could get you all these things.' That was one of the things that he admired about me, and I've never forgotten those words that he said to me."

"She told me that, 'you know, hope, survival, and progress, they walk hand in hand and they work in concert and you can't have one without the other. Hope will be elusive and hope will in times when you mostly need it, you won't be able to find it. You have to find it. And there's always light.' She said all of these things and actually she said there's light and darkness. That was a moment that I've just always carried with me."

Hosted by:

Marta Kagan

Stef Ziegler

About our Guest:

Joey MacGilvray is a Client Services Executive by profession, life-long human rights activist by nature. A former ACT-UPer and self-proclaimed feminist, Joey is happiest seeing others able to live to their full (true) potential.

When he isn't trying to get humans to care about other humans, you can find him with his husband of 23 years, traveling and enjoying something (or everything! ) in NYC - usually in a theater or his favorite hotel cabaret on the UES. His religion and politics are pretty simple: EQUALITY.
BE YOU. BE YOUR TRUTH. And BE KIND. Always.

Links:

Joey's Instagram

The Trevor Project