I would say, that your pace is the one you are comfy with, not your friends or therapists pace. Almost a universal truth here when it comes to transitioning. As I said, I did this whole thing as a "smooth" change. I went from presenting male, to basically a spectrum of possibilities that people could interpret as they liked - some saw me as male, others as female, others did not know. This lead to people actually discussing my gender in front of me (talk about weird) and then at some point I shifted so much over to the female side that I decided to call it a real life experience. At that stage, I got enough effect of HRT as well to not really needing artificial breasts or anything like that. The benefit of that experience for me was that I did not have to feel too stressed out if I did not "pass" at first as I did not expect to 100%. So it was literally a transition in the sense of a slow but steady change. Ok not quite - admittably there were some leaps as well - some clothes I just had to muster courage to wear, same thing with some hairstyles and of course hiding facial hair and so on - I did not say it was easy, but for me it was easier than to say this day I present as male and the next I wear a skirt and tell all people to call me a woman. I think this is not a way that is possible for everyone or that fits for everyone but it was the way that worked for me.
