I suppressed the feelings for many years, and only had 3 brief relationships with women. I finally admitted it to myself at age 35 (2001), and started having my first experiences with guys. The next year I slowly started telling family and friends. My parents had a problem with it at first but then came around and accepted it. As it turns out, my best friend of 30 years now, ended up with his middle son being gay. Learning about me, what it really meant, and being able to ask a bunch of questions, really helped soften the blow. It ended up going much better than it would have when his son came out. His family has been amazing as well and always accepted me.
For me, I've only been "out" at 2 companies and was only at each for 2 years. Even today at 55 years old I'm not currently "out" at work and still struggle with it. I've had to accept and deal with it, but I'm still not comfortable with it. And of course when you've spent most of your life alone, it's much easier to hide who you are and evade questions. I don't know if I'll ever fully come to terms with it.