Today is June 3, 2012. Near the end of January 2011 is when I started my transition. So, roughly 16 months of transition. It was only just a couple of weeks ago that I sent a letter to the HR head asking if it would be okay to go full-time at work.
Some backstory: I've been working the same job for the last 4 years, which is the longest I've ever worked at one place. Shortly after separating from my wife (not caused by my transgender status, but what served as a catalyst for change), I decided that I was going to transition my dressing as a boy to more feminine attire without consulting my boss. Nobody really said anything to me until my yearly review. At my review, my boss told me that I was making people uncomfortable and that I needed to stop if I wanted to work there. Yes, that was fairly traumatic for me and I cried the next day and considered just quitting. However, considering that I wanted to find a new job as a female and knowing that the job market sucks, I couldn't really afford to do that. So, over the next year, I made sure to talk to everyone on an individual basis, show how friendly I was, talk about transitioning, being transgendered, etc. All the while, I was also undergoing hormone replacement therapy. So, my body began to change and grow - from the way my face was shaped, to curvier hips, to breasts. In addition to that, I worked on my female voice, I had numerous laser hair removal sessions, and I continued to learn the ways of women. Eventually, I found myself being always mistaken for a woman, no matter what clothes I was wearing. When I gathered up my nerve, I wrote a nice, professional letter to my boss explaining the situation and asking if I could go full-time. After a personal meeting with the HR head and the president of the company, it was agreed that I could continue working there and being Audrey full-time.
The point of this post is that I see a lot of women on here making the decision to live full-time after only a few months. Looking back at myself, pictures of then and now, I looked absolutely horrid. Maybe in a dark room, someone might mistake me for a woman. However, in the light, I both sounded like a man and looked like a man. Despite my initial rush to go full-time, I really think waiting turned out for the best. Don't get me wrong, during the time when I had to be a boy during the day, I was usually a woman at night. I guess it gave me a time to adjust with a crutch to fall back on. For instance, in between laser hair removal sessions when my facial hair was depressingly visible, I could save myself a little embarrassment by going to the grocery store as a man instead of something oddly in-between.
Anyway, that's my experience and advice.
