How do you guys let go of the "what ifs"?

[GentlemanRDP]

Believe me, I know how you feel,
I took a good four years just thinking about it before I was even comfortable in calling myself trans.
Sometimes, we need an awful lot of time to make sure that this is the right step for us.
As long as you're slow about it, and careful, I think that you'll come to the right conclusion, even if it takes you another twenty years.

Whenever my family asks me how I know that transition is the right step for me,
I tell them this,

"Honestly, I don't know if it's right, and I don't know if I'll regret it ten, twenty, or thirty years from now, but I do know how uncomfortable I am in my skin and I know that if I don't even try to make it better, then I'll always regret it as opposed to possibly finding the 'right' answer,"

I know that I can't really help you with this, but I wish you the best of luck!

[limepepsi]

This post has helped me so much. There isn't anything in particular about being female that I love, but I'm still like, ugh, what if this is a bad idea? What if I become a man and can't find a man that's okay with me not being a 'real' man? What if my family disowns me, or even worse--acts like it didn't happen? What if it's just a phase? I am SO excited to find a counselor to talk with about these issues.

I like what someone else said earlier, about them telling their family that it might be something they regret down the road, but what they're doing right now doesn't feel right, so they need to try to make it better. That's so true. What we become might not feel right, but what we are now doesn't feel right, either.

[Sam-]

You all are being so helpful.

Then there were a collection of quotes which further convinced me.  Basically they all said, "Don't wait the rest of your life for the rest of your life."  Also anything Mahatma Gandhi ever said, ever.  Life is meant to be lived and what I was living was not any sort of life at all.  The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.  Because after that you realize that you don't need them or their opinion to be happy.  You can be who you are and they can go stuff it. 

I feel I am not living any sort of life either. I want to go to college but I just can't bring myself to go as a girl. It may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I know that it would send my anxiety/depression through the roof and I'd be in a very bad mental state.

Whenever my family asks me how I know that transition is the right step for me,
I tell them this,

"Honestly, I don't know if it's right, and I don't know if I'll regret it ten, twenty, or thirty years from now, but I do know how uncomfortable I am in my skin and I know that if I don't even try to make it better, then I'll always regret it as opposed to possibly finding the 'right' answer,"

I know that I can't really help you with this, but I wish you the best of luck!

I'm beginning to switch my mindset to view it like this. It seems like the only way I'll be able to find peace with the subject. 

[mm]

x1x1, I started college as a girl and now dress as many of guys do at my school.  Many of the newer student know and see me as one of the guy, but the older ones I strated with know my history.  I am always wonder who knows what about me.  I say start out in your chosen gender if at all possible.