What's stopping you ?

[Blaine]

1. Finances
2. Can't get a job. No work experience and no one's hiring right now.

I'm hoping to fix all of that in the next month, though.

[SonadoraXVX]

1. Coworkers/supervisors, even though I work for the County of Los Angeles which protects tg rights and so does California.
2. Friends, who know me.
3. Neighbors

Now I'm 6 months, 3 weeks into hrt, so we'll see how I face up to my fears in due time.

Lucia, 

[Agenda Dysphoria]

The only thing stopping me from transitioning right now is not having a diagnosis for gender dysphoria. The diagnosis would make me feel a lot more sure that I have TS since, well, it's a proper medical diagnosis. The doctors would probably know more about this than I do and so if they do diagnose me I won't be afraid of regretting things as much. I also don't feel like the people around me would accept me as much without one because it would just be me saying that I'm TS, with no medical proof or anything.

[kelly_aus]

The only thing stopping me from transitioning right now is not having a diagnosis for gender dysphoria. The diagnosis would make me feel a lot more sure that I have TS since, well, it's a proper medical diagnosis. The doctors would probably know more about this than I do and so if they do diagnose me I won't be afraid of regretting things as much. I also don't feel like the people around me would accept me as much without one because it would just be me saying that I'm TS, with no medical proof or anything.

The closest I have to a diagnosis is the comment on my HRT referral, 'Would make an excellent candidate for hormonal reassignment.'

[StellaB]

In my case it was doctors telling me that I was a crossdresser and refusing to look further, fear of my father, and later the success of my artistic career.

In the end I realized that I was only hurting myself and others through lying and pretending, not making the effort to overcome my fears, and that no amount of success or money could ever compensate for not being myself and not transitioning.

I decided that I would rather be hated and rejected for who I really am than accepted and admired for who I never was and never will be.

[Donna Elvira]

Only one thing now stopping me from completing my transition, fear of losing my job, a fear that seems to all the more realistic as I lost my previous job just 4 months after coming out and attempting to transition on the job.

Obviously, my termination was justified on other grounds but the reasons that were given were tenuous to say the least. As it was a small management consulting firm where I could only operate effectively if fully accepted by my colleagues, I decided not to bother trying to fight it, accepted a negotiated settlement and wondered for the better part of two months if I hadn't hit the end of the road. Those were two very, very, difficult  months...

Overall, I have very limited confidence in the protection afforded by anti-discrimination laws, at any case in the sort of positions I work in where you can only operate effectively if completely accepted by those around you.

However, In a very paradoxal turn of events, the last consulting mission I was working on went so well that I was hired by the client at the end of the mission and now have a job which I much prefer to what I was doing previously.  My employers are aware of my situation but asked me to put it on hold as we get through a huge amount of other  changes , notably a carve-out combined with a merger but I am optimistic about the final outcome. I have been "Madamed" by third parties in in front of colleagues  so often that at some stage, it must become obvious to all concerned that it would be best to officialise what anyone who has eyes can already see.

Otherwise, my family, after a little time to take things in, and friends, have been almost unanimously supportive reminding of an an acronym I once came across concerning the word FEAR: False Expectations Appearing Real".

The thing is, this applies to people like my employers too who have no problem accepting me in person but who fear how others might react. Based on this, and using an idea from Misato, I intend to invite my boss to a lunch or dinner sometime in the autumn so that he actually sees me in female mode and sees how others react to me. Hoefully, between one thing and another, I'll get over the last hump by the end of the year.

Bises
Donna

[Lajs]

I'm afraid of what people I know will think of me afterwards. I know I shouldn't let it stop me, and it won't, but I'm nonetheless still scared. I have to do this.

[Jenny07]

Fear, plain and simple, I am scared witless.

Also besides being scared, doing this by myself is just as scary.

Trying to deal with it the best I can though.

J

[Corwynn Jade]

Money, and those last few family members whos opinions matter to me and who i don't believe can handle it

[Pandion]

I am exceptionally lucky in that I have a supportive partner, a very big family and a lot of friends that I know would not cut me off if I was to transition but ironically, that is what scares me. My ex boyfriend transitioned during the three years we were together so I got to know how it feel from the point of view of the supporter and it was a long, painful and at times terrifying process that I wouldn't want to put my partner or my family through purely for my benefit.

On the other hand, I'm scared I will never really feel like me if I don't do something. It does feel a bit like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place but I know there will always be a way out if I look hard enough.

P.S. Its worth noting I am in the UK so trans people are well protected by law and generally well accepted in most communities.

Pan

[Lo]

I just have no real burning desire or need to come out to people right now. I'm already mostly presenting the way I want (FtN/A :B), I wear clothes from men's and women's section, I bind around family and wear sports bras a lot, I have short hair, and so on and so forth. I've been a tomboy my entire life, with little break in continuity over the years, so this is just business as usual to most of them I'm sure.

Work isn't such a huge issue for me right now; It's a small start-up and I came out to my team very informally ("As someone that doesn't identify either way, I think we should...") and I didn't even get so much as a second glance. Maybe because I wasn't explicit enough though and most of them didn't quite catch on.

A hysterectomy would be really nice, though. Nixing my reproductive capabilities would make me feel much more at home in my body, and I'm sure a legal name change in the future is in order too. I would definitely come out prior to making those changes. But right now, there just isn't much more I can do to transition.

The main thing that's keeping me from doing it is that, while I'm financially independent and married/partnered, I currently live with my grandmother and for some reason it just would be easier for me if I waited until I was moved out and living with my husband before I came out to my parents and whoever else would be important enough to know. Immigration is a time and money suck, too, and I can't make any drastic changes to my life until I get approved to live in my husband's country. I also need to familiarize myself with all of their deals regarding transgender laws and policies too... though it's a socialist country I'm moving to, so I can't imagine that they'd be worse than the US. Wouldn't be surprised if they got a third gender option federally recognized before us too. Dreamy sigh..

[Zoe Snow]

Uncertainty.  I still have a bunch of tough questions that I need to answer about myself.  Finding a gender therapist would probably be a good first step towards coming to terms with myself.
Fear of losing family.
Sterility.  While I currently have no desire to have kids, its one of those things that I always assumed I'd have at some point in my life.

[VenomGaia]

Pfft. I am afraid of everything.

I don't trust myself to make the right decisions, so I fear that if I start transitioning, I'm gonna regret everything and ruin my life (although hey, at this point I don't really think i care).

I'm afraid my younger sister will shy away from me, after the 13 years we've spent as close siblings. She thinks that if someone transitions, they become a whole different person. She's scared that I'll bully her and be gross like the kids at her school, and I don't want to lose her.

I'm terrified of losing my family. If one parent knows, then the rest of the world knows. And my family is so religious, it hurts. I fear that the'll see me as the one bringing our streak of bad luck on everyone, and will throw me out.

I'm afraid of love. I'm scared that if I transition, i will never be seen as my true gender, and will always be thought of as a freak. I'm afraid my friends will harass me, i don't want to draw more attention to myself than I have to :/

Worst of all, I'm scared that if I do anything about it, my entire life will fall apart in front of me.

We shouldn't always dwell on our fears, though. Sometimes we have to act first, think later. ;P That's how a lot of things get done.

[Emily Aster]

I already posted here a long time ago, but since I just posted more fears elsewhere, I'm going to cross post them here because it fits better here.

I'm scared for a number of reasons:
I'm scared of the reactions I'll get.
I'm scared of being horrible at a transition.
I'm scared of not passing.
I'm scared of passing.
I'm scared of losing my job.
I'm scared of losing the ability to pay the mortgages on my rental properties, putting other families out on the street.
I'm scared of losing everything I've worked for.
But I'm also scared of my hectic life dying down and finding myself in retirement looking for an out because this thing comes crashing down on me and I have no place to run.