What have you gained?

[cindianna_jones]

If you have started transition or have completed it.... what have you gained?  What has enriched your life that you could not have before?

Cindi

[Buffy]

A life...

Friendship like I never had before, freedom of choice, confidence and independence.

Buffy

[Kimberly]

Meh. I have gained more from things kicked off from this transsexualism thing than from it itself. (What if I am correct?)
But just transsexualism, well.

A peace of mind and at least I no longer feel like I am suffocating to death.

Perhaps a will to live. I am not actively planning on self termination after my parents go. Although that is still highly probable at this stage as frankly I have no other reason to be here. ^*shrug*

I am a little bit more comfortable in the skin I am in.

I am certainly enjoying life more than I was.

Um, and it is kind of nice to be able to cry again. An feel something other than emptiness in general.

[Dennis]

So much. Comfort in my own skin, self confidence, comfort in my social role, comfort in my clothes. A whole new, better life.

Dennis

[ssindysmith]

So much. Comfort in my own skin, self confidence, comfort in my social role, comfort in my clothes. A whole new, better life.

Dennis

Exactly the same along with self confidence. Something about being comfortable with who you are allows you to express yourself better nothing to hide nothing to hold back.

[Steph]

What have I gained?  I have gained my life, my freedom, and my happiness.

I dance.

Steph

[Julie Marie]

what have you gained?

Cindi

Inner peace like I've never felt. 

New friends with whom I can be myself.

Freedom from anxiety, depression, frustration, resentment, anger...

And the freedom to be me.

Julie

[Hazumu]

I'm delighting in being myself without censoring every damn thing I do.

Casual relations seem warmer and more open/intimate.

I'm regularly stunned by the beauty of the world.

Karen

[Kate]

I'm delighting in being myself without censoring every damn thing I do

Yes! It's like being able to *breathe* again... or well, maybe for the first time EVER really.

Plus I got to meet all of YOU wonderful people

AND... I've been shocked at the kindness and compassion most people I've told have shown me. I'd been walking around for 42 years pre-emptively hating everyone for being mean and intolerant, and whadaya know? *I* was the one being ugly, holding hate in my heart all this time. THEY, these wonderful people out there, are more beautiful than I'd ever imagined. I woulda missed knowing this had I not started transitioning.

Kate

[Kim]

I gained freedom of my spirit,inner happiness and peace. I actually feel a weight lifted. I gained a me I can love and respect and be happy about for the first time ever in my life.
                               Kim   

[MeganRose]

I feel like I have gained everything. Like for the first time, I am actually living my life instead of somebody elses.

I have the confidence now to stand up for myself, to fight for what I believe in.

I have a sense of optimism that was never there before. That things can turn out for the best, if I work at it hard enough.

I feel happy now. Life holds a beauty for me that I had never seen before, I feel lucky for every day that I get to experience (even the bad ones).

For the first time in my life, I feel beautiful. The person I see now when I look in the mirror seems right to me, something that I don't think I can ever take for granted.

Megan

[Melissa]

I've achieved a joy and fullfillment in my own life I never knew existed.  I've acheived freedom and independence to my own life.  I've experienced what it is like to be fully accepted for who I really am.  I have gained so many friends--more than I ever thought I would have.  Am I glad I transitioned?  Absolutely.

Melissa

[Maud]

everything really, I was a very broken person pre transition, it's just plain weird thinking back to how I was only 6 months or so ago.

[Sheila]

I have gained personal peace within myself. I finally made it to the point that I wanted to be when I was very young and I never thought I would be here. I'm very happy with who I am now. I have also gained a lot of insight into life and others around me. I feel more like a person instead of someone in a haze. I always felt like I was someone else watching this body go through the motions of living and not really caring.
Sheila

[tinkerbell]

What have I gained?  I wish there was enough space to write the many things I have gained; but just to make it simple and short...everything!
One of the many things I never thought I would experience, I have learned (still learning) to love my anatomy.

tinkerbell

[LostInTime]

Not much has changed.  I am more comfortable with myself now.  I also feel like I am a bit more part of the world.  Not sure if that makes sense to anyone else, it is hard for me to explain.

[rhonda13000]

--I gained my life and a reason to live,

--I gained the use of a fine mind,

--I gained maturity,

--I gained social ease and comfort and lo, even enjoyment of the same,

--I gained liberation from having to live an anhedonic existence,

--I gained the freedom to express my emotions and feelings,

--I gained the ability to help others,

--I gained [after a rather rough initial emotional 'leveling out' period] equanimity and temperance,

--I gained comfort in my own skin,

--It still is a 'work in progress', but I have gained freedom from crippling, secondary co-morbid problems,

--I gained a much greater appreciation of the ambient beauty in and of life,

--I gained true, lasting joy,

--I gained a future, from a decision made on one day in May of 2005 to die.

To date, notwithstanding the oft severe traumas and emotional crises passed through in the initial 'phase' of my transition, which appear to be a thing of the past,

I have gained myself.

[cindianna_jones]

I feel very much the same as everyone else who has posted in this thread. But the answers beg the question.... How do you explain to someone else, that these feelings of peace, of being comfortable with one's self, is worth giving up everything?  How do you convince someone that "feeling at peace" is worth sacrificing your family, your career, and your social standing?

Cindi

[rhonda13000]

I feel very much the same as everyone else who has posted in this thread. But the answers beg the question.... How do you explain to someone else, that these feelings of peace, of being comfortable with one's self, is worth giving up everything?  How do you convince someone that "feeling at peace" is worth sacrificing your family, your career, and your social standing?

Cindi

That is a very pertinent and relevant question, which begs to be answered.

And this will be ruminated upon as I proceed through my day. I have a definite need to compose an articulate and convincing response to the query, as I have indeed, been asked this very question.

More later....

[Debbie_Anne]

Perhaps I am a bit unusual in that in my case, after my mother's passing, my family seemed to be drifting apart anyway.  My father was spending more time away from home, and in 2005 remarried, and my brother and I were never really close to begin with.  My "career" is more of a job than a career; I often feel that my low self-esteem is what has kept me in what is an unsatisfying and unrewarding job.   And being an almost total recluse before, I didn't have a social standing to sacrifice.  I certainly have gained far more than I lost from transitioning.  I have begun to truly discover myself, which is why I have said before that I feel my journey is one of self-discovery more than anything else.