Had a bit of a cry today

[Princess Rachel]

just thinking back to all the things I missed out on through not coming out as trans when I first realised, but I made my choice and have had to live with it, and I'm infinitely glad that I finally found the courage to come out and transition (better late than never, as the saying goes)

[Nero]

I believe everyone transitions on their own time table, when the moment is right for them. If there were earlier times you considered it or started it and didn't follow through - well, obviously, that time wasn't as perfect as you thought.

And I believe the time you were born often factors into this. If you were born in a time where there wasn't much awareness and assistance for trans people, that's probably for a reason. Young people now were also born in this (relatively) more enlightened time for a reason. Transition is an experience. And we're all meant to experience it at different times, stages, and levels.

[cass]

First realised in my early to mid teens, didnt understand it though, wasnt internet savvy back then either, experimented with some patches i bought from the internet for a bit then ended up burying the feelings but it always made appearances, regret not talking to my parents about it back then but over 15 years later that was still a very hard conversation to have with them, i have a lot of respect for those teens and younger that have to deal with this and have the guts to talk to their parents about it, things would have been very different for me if i had it was only really as a result of me questioning why i like to do feminine things such as waxing, painting my nails, cross dressing etc that i began to think about it and things started to piece together as i looked back at my life

[Megumi]

I use to think that way until I really looked at my past. There's no way I could have transitioned when I was 5 until my early 20's and even then I was in hardcore denial mode for my 20's. The timing was never right, society wasn't right being that I was an Air Force brat and was picked on a bunch and beaten a lot for being girly even back then, there was never ANY transgender support networks available to me until just recently as I was rolling the odometer over to 30. I came to terms with myself and decided I had to do this and everything that happened before this moment already happened and there's no changing it. Had all of the support network I have now existed when I was 5 yeah I would have been able but oh well I'm still BEYOND happy that I'm able to be myself at 30 while I'm still young and somewhat good looking with the ability to pass 100% in public even though I'm a 5'11" amazon everyone says I look good. Both cis and transgender folk's say it, so I have to believe what they say is true. I have a whole life ahead of me to start building up all of these new memories and get to do the things I never got to do while I still can.

[LizMarie]

When I grew up (late 50s/1960s), and where I grew up (coal mine/steel mill country) was a time and place where, if I had insisted openly about my gender identity, I would have been sent off for electroshock therapy. In fact, I know one woman who was and she only recently transitioned in her early 60s because of such trauma. Here I am in my mid-50s and also finally transitioning.

Part of me can't help but wish I could have transitioned at a younger age but what's done is done and I can't change the past. So while I have pangs of regret from time to time, when I do I instead try to focus on the now and the future, which finally looks very bright for me.

[JulieBlair]

I've cried in mourning over a girl who never was too, but (and I've written about this before) I love the woman I have finally become, and without the years, and the lifetime experiences I've had, I wouldn't be me.  Maybe better, maybe not.  But I would most certainly have become someone else.  The guy I was did his best and tried to protect me.  Sometimes I miss him, but not often - it is my time now and I mean to make the most of it.  I have adventures to live, and lovers to find.  Look out world!

Julie