It's probably been said before, but it seems that the first thing we have to do is accept ourselves, and then allow others to accept us.
Healing is a process with both a physical and emotional side. These heal at different rates, and if it is taking a while longer to heal emotionally, it's probably quite normal as we need to get to the point of being healed physically before the mind fully understands and accepts what is going to be "the norm".
This site is a brilliant place to come for information, to make new friends, and maybe even start a relationship. Not having to explain things to a potential partner because they too are an ostomate certainly keeps things closer to the comfort zone, but we must not take the easy option of looking to date an ostomate just because they'll understand while excluding dating others for fear of rejection.
I became a born again singleton long before my surgery, and trust me - you don't need a bag to be rejected on a date. There are a whole host of reasons why two people don't click and I honestly feel that it's all too easy to blame it on the bag. Thinking back to my pre-op days, if I had dated someone who was special, then found out that she was an ostomate, it certainly would not have put me off. So, now it's my turn, and as I said in my previous post, the stoma could even work to my advantage now as, if I meet someone and we click and decide to take things further, then it's going to be with someone less shallow than if they run at the mention of a bag, and we are more likely to be there for each other no matter what happens.
Perhaps the other issue here, besides us accepting ourselves, is public perception. We all tend to keep personal things quiet, thus there is a general lack of awareness about stomas etc, and it could possibly be this lack of awareness that makes people less willing to accept us.
Greater public awareness may benefit us all, but I think I'd be drifting off topic to discuss this further here so I'll close now.
Oi - wake up - I've finished!