Basking in the sunlight - the light after the end of the tunnel

[Cindy]

Just thought I'd kick this off.

Obviously by the nature of the forum there are many members struggling with the start, beginning and travelling through the tunnel of transition.

We don't often hear from men and women who have gone through the tunnel and just live their lives, happy and dealing with everyday issues.

Yep issues don't go away, I still have to clothe and feed myself, deal with everyday stuff, get out of bed when it's cold.

But.. life is good. The dysphoria has gone, I'm accepted, I may or may not pass - I don't care. I have friends, I have a life. I'm in a strange place - I'm happy.

So boys and girls lets talk about the positives so that out brothers and sisters starting their journey can realize that yes, life can be and is good.

But not all problems go away - problems remain, but they are the problems everyone has.

[Ms Grace]

I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm feeling an unexpected level of acceptance from my female work colleagues. I say unexpected because it is of a kind that is hard to put a finger on, dare I say it feels like I have been let into "the club" - something I always felt excluded from and miserable as a result. When I transitioned I think, at first, they were treating me as a trans colleague who they needed to support but now I feel I am being treated as just another female colleague, that the male presentation of myself from before four months ago is almost forgotten. It's a great feeling. Really great.

[kelly_aus]

What can I say? Transition led me to a place where all sorts of things I thought would never happen, indeed have. It led me to love myself, which meant that I could truly love another - and she loved me. Life took her from me, but I did get a compensatory 'gift'.. Her eldest daughter, Lia, adopted me, so I get to play mum and grandma - never would have happened had I not transitioned. I got to be Mother of the Bride at Lia's wedding last July. I've been a bridesmaid for another friend too. I'm loved and accepted for the woman I am. Some of the friends I've made since I started transition forget I'm trans..

I was a stranger in a strange land for a little while.. I was happy in a world that was a lot less crappy than it used to be. I joke that before I had 99 problems and 98 of them related to my gender somehow and now I still have 99 problems, but none of them are my gender now..

My only regret about transition? The usual one - that I didn't do it years ago. I figure it didn't happen until I was ready.