What was the last straw?

[Eris]

For me it wasn't a straw which broke, rather a person who inspired me.

I started feeling like I was in the wrong body when I was about 13 and these feelings grew and grew. By the time I was 15 I knew that I wanted to be a woman, that I was stuck in the wrong body but I was bullied a lot at school and I never saw my family because they were always working. I didn't have the courage to speak up because I was afraid of my family rejecting me and what friends I had at that point abandoning me leaving me totally alone.

In the last couple of years it came out that someone really close to me has really been in a terrible situation for a very long time. More than anyone should have to and she's striving onwards and making a life for herself. I thought that if she has that kind of courage then maybe I can have the courage to try and be the person I am on the inside.

Sorry if I'm rambling XD I'm new to posting on forums.

[Mary81]

The last straw for me was kind of dramatic. I knew from my childhood that I was trans, but for one reason or another had convinced myself that I couldn't transition at that point in time. I guess the idea that I could do it later kept me grounded to some extent, but I was pretty miserable all the same. Then I got married. Three weeks later I had a nervous breakdown. It was pretty horrible. I loved my wife, but I am a heterosexual woman and the idea of having promised to live the rest of my life as a heterosexual man was too much for me to deal with.

[Missadventure]

I'm curious, what was the last straw for all of you that made you realize that transition was not an option to consider but a necessity?

This question deserves a complicated answer, but I'm feeling waaay to lazy to write an epic biography at the moment. So, the short answer is my girlfriend of two years dumped me and moved out, citing that she wasn't looking to be the man of the relationship (ironic phrasing, considering at that point she had no idea that I've been struggling with my gender as long as I can remember), then 10 days later my downstairs neighbor fell asleep while smoking and using an oxygen machine, and I woke up to discover my bedroom walls were in flames. Everyone thankfully made it safely out of the house, including my pets, but the house itself was a total loss. And, shock and depression set in pretty quickly and pretty strongly. And, while wallowing in that mire I realized that life's too short to not be who you are and that I'm never truly going to find lasting personal happiness until I'm honest with both myself and the world around me.