Silly question that's been bugging me for 2 years now

[Jayne]

When I first came out a friend asked me a question (after he finished choking on his beer, I must work on my timing).
I think he was trying to judge my state of mind & determination, he was very respectfull when he asked "If you could go back in time would you do this earlier? Or if you could take a pill back to make you. . . . . . . .  normal, would you"
His use of the word normal had a big pause before it as he struggled to find the right word, no offence was intended by its use.

My knee jerk reaction was to say that I would travel back to transition at a younger age, i'd spent too long dealing with this to consider taking a magic pill.

I know this is a complete fairy tale fantasy, I will never be able to travel back to change my past, if I could do it then a future self would have already visited me & enable my transition decades ago & I wouldn't be sat here now typing this. . . . AARGH!! Time travel gives me a headache!

So it's time for my stupid question that i've not been able to stop mulling over for almost 2 years:

"If you could travel back in time to transition earlier would you?"

Keep in mind that you wouldn't meet many people that you know now, you may not be in the right place at the right time to get that much loved pet etc. etc.
I still can't decide if I would throw away this reality for an alternate reality where I transitioned much earlier if it meant the risk of not meeting certain people & having my beloved Poopie (the dog in my avatar pic)

[John Smith]

In a heartbeat.

[Brooke777]

I would only go back about 6 years as that is when my son was born. I would not trade him for anything.

[Ms. OBrien CVT]

If I could go back about 25-30 years I would do it in a heartbeat.  I would probably be one of the 20 plus year post-ops.

[Annah]

Never

Not in a million years.

My 3 beautiful children brings an immeasurable amount more happiness than my gender presentation could ever bring

[JenniL]

Most of my mind says do it, make the jump back in time and transition. But the small part is like, but you would have never met some of the great people you know now. Like my ex-girlfriend. Reason being is she is one of my best friends in fact she one of few true friends I have now, but what makes her so awesome is she didn't kick me to the curb when I told her I was transitioning. She honestly tried, but in the end she said she is not a lesbian and she respects my decision and is there for me. She has been true to her word. She has been there every step of the way. Just like how I wouldn't apply for a job at work though I was in the process of being laid off because I was waiting for the systems to update my name. My reason, my male side ends here and I will not budge until my name is completed because I just want to move on with my life as Jennifer. She would make me hesitant in traveling back in time and transitioning earlier.

On another note, if I never met her, I would so do it in a heart beat.

Jennifer

[Jayne]

Wow, I hadn't expect this many replies so quickly.

I understand why some people would not want to give up their kids or friendships, my first reaction was just like Laura, John & Ms. OBrien but I then get stuck on the wonderful memories of my time with my ex, holidays on a narrowboat with her were a joy.
We've had more good times than bad & only had a handful of arguments in 8 yrs.

Also I wouldn't have my dog who is a bundle of clumsy love on 4 legs.

[Randi]

Not me.  I am avoiding transitioning as long as I possibly can.  I never liked being male, but eventually I became fairly good at it. Or at least I thought I was.

Now I find out that I was a bit more transparent than I thought.  It turns out that friends family and co-workers knew way before I did.

Women knew that I was one of them and men knew I wasn't male.  At family holiday gatherings, where the men drifted off to one corner and the women to the other, I'd always end up with the women.

I could never have been a 25 year old girl, but I make a pretty respectable 60 year old woman.

Randi

[Cindy]

Instantly. My biggest satisfaction is my career. If I gave that up to be me 30+ yrs ago I would.

[Padma]

If I could travel back in time, first I'd go further back to prevent the things happening that made it impossible for me to transition earlier - then I'd transition earlier. I didn't transition earlier because it wasn't safe to. I'd go back and make it safe to. Priorities .

[twit]

The trouble with going back in time to alter your own past is that if you did, then you would have no current need to go back and alter your own past, so there would likely be a paradox. But there is always the chance that timelines could diverge if you go back to alter your past so that you personally wouldn't get the benefit, but yourself in the timeline that branched off could. So you would really never really know for sure if you were successful in your goal of altering your past unless you could travel to other timelines, but then that could possibly open a whole other can of worms.

[Padma]

Eh... wibbly wobby, timey-wimey...

[justmeinoz]

If I had been asked this at 15 I would have said yes, but as everything that I have experienced brought me to where I am now, so I would say no if I was asked today.

[Jayne]

Eh... wibbly wobby, timey-wimey...

The Doctor would be very happy to hear you've been taking notes

[Padma]

I go ding when there's stuff.

[Jayne]

The trouble with going back in time to alter your own past is that if you did, then you would have no current need to go back and alter your own past, so there would likely be a paradox. But there is always the chance that timelines could diverge if you go back to alter your past so that you personally wouldn't get the benefit, but yourself in the timeline that branched off could. So you would really never really know for sure if you were successful in your goal of altering your past unless you could travel to other timelines, but then that could possibly open a whole other can of worms.

This is why time travel gives me a headache

[SarahM777]

Would it have really been better? Is it possible that things could have actually been worse and could one have handled it at that time? How many other people would have been hurt by it? Think about all the wisdom that would have been lost that would not be able to be passed on. How many others have been helped by that? How would it have affected their lives if they didn't have that to learn from?

[Jayne]

I'm suprised no-one has said about going back with several weeks worth of winning lottery numbers so when they transition they can do it in financial comfort.

[Jayne]

Would it have really been better? Is it possible that things could have actually been worse and could one have handled it at that time? How many other people would have been hurt by it? Think about all the wisdom that would have been lost that would not be able to be passed on. How many others have been helped by that? How would it have affected their lives if they didn't have that to learn from?

That's alot of questions!!
It could have been better if I could have convinced my parents to allow me medication to prevent my male puberty. It could have been worse due to medical knowledge in the early 80's being more limited.
I don't think any more people would have been hurt, my dad would still be an intolerant idiot regardless of what decade I transitioned in, my mother would have probably accepted it easier, one of the hurdles she keeps failing on right now is that she's known me as male for 37 years.
If i'd gone back to my childhood as an adult then i'd have the verbal skills to better explain to my parents what not transitioning will put me through.
If the time travel put me in my childhood body then i'd know that hiding the desire to dress & play as a female would make it harder for my parents to accept this when I come out.

Also, if I went back i'd cram my brain beforehand with all the medical knowledge of today to push the science of transitioning forward by decades.
If there was room in my brain after all that then i'd learn all I could about microchips so that I could push computer tech forward by decades & be rich, rich, rich!!

[big kim]

Yes and no. It was a bad time to transition in the late 70s when I knew for sure on the other hand I was 21 and I could have had better results.Medical procedures weren't as good and society not as accepting and equality laws non existent.