Coloring Outside the Lines: One Gay Man's Journey to Self-Acceptance and Spiritual Awakening

Why are we afraid to be who we really are? Why do we seek to measure up to other's expectations instead of our own? Why do we so freely hand our power over to someone else? In the process of coming to terms with one's own truth and finally feeling comfortable in one's own skin, there awaits an even greater reward. The gift of YOU. Coloring Outside the Lines reveals how to get to this place--how to come to terms with one's true self, and how to know total empowerment. Coloring Outside the Lines takes an honest and heartfelt look at one man's story of growing up in the deep, conservative south. Mark Hyde's childhood was unique in the fact that he was one of a set of triplets from a broken home. He constantly tried to do things by other people's standards and not his own. He lost himself in religious dogma, six years of Baptist education, a feeble effort at marriage, and two suicide attempts. It was a desperate struggle to fit in. It is a story of the extremes to which we often go to not disappoint other people. He knows all too well what it's like to be uncomfortable in one's own skin, to seek after other people's ideas of truth instead of his own. This is Mark's account of walking away from his entire support system that defined his self-worth as a person. He had to do it for his own sake; he had to be true to himself. It was the only way to find comfort in his own skin and as a result, embrace his personal truth. You can be true to yourself. You have a right and a freedom. Take heart that it can be done and done beautifully. This is a story of how to get to that place we all desire, complete assurance of who and what we are.