In the beginning stages of transition

[indnor]

I want to hear a few things that people who have successfully transitioned wish they could've told themselves or wish they could've heard. Stress relieving one liners, such as:

--You don't need to live in the shadows. You don't want the stress of a double life

Comments

[fyremane]

Smile as you face the world, your happier now then you were before.

[michellehart]

Remember that the only person that you have to live with is you!

[offloe]

Years before I thought I would ever have the strength to transition, a trans woman posted something on this very board:

"You know, actually, I think of myself as one of the luckiest people alive because I get to live out my dream that I never thought possible, every day, all the time. How many people get to do that? Not many. But I do."

I'm a year and three months into transition and that thought has really kept my spirits up through a lot.

Also: Wonder if anyone else felt this way but I was surprised by how much it would mess me up to get called "Sir" and "ma'am" within the same day. It still happens though not as much as it did in the middle of my first year, but it kind of screwed with me to feel like I had no handle on how I was being read. If that happens to you, my advice is breathe through, it'll likely change, I know I felt like all my usual internal rules for how to handle strangers got completely fuckered, but they're somewhat stabilizing now. It'll be okay. :)

[sebastian_bound]

"You are not a box, don't try to fit in to one."

"This is for you. Make what changes *you* are comfortable with and the decisions that *you* want."

[cykotyks]

There's no right way to "do gender." Be who you are and do what you want, because you're guaranteed to be stuck with yourself for the rest of your life. You may as well enjoy it. (And for the crap we have to go through as trans folk, you deserve to enjoy what you can.)