Hi Karen,
Well you've taken a very bold yet positive step forward so congratulations. It's not easy talking to people about such personal matters and I think when we finally cross that bridge it certainly is liberating.
So when I started transition four months ago, I hadn't spoken to anyone about my gender identity challenges. However I had spent many many years and even more money speaking with Clinical Psychologists about other matters. So, in the lead up to transition I still hadn't spoken to anyone. But what I did do which I found very useful was research anything and everything to do with being transexual. I also started reading lots of books on other peoples transitions, such as Conundrum by Jan Morris. It helped me a lot to piece together some of the things that I had been feeling. There were similarities' but there were also lots of differences, and that really helped with with truly appreciating the wide spectrum of variation that all of us sit within.
Aside from research and reading, I began to take care of myself a lot more. I mean physically, mentally and emotionally. Everything I knew about transition, if this was what I was going to embark on, was quite pressing on these aspects of me. So I evaluated my diet, I started running again, and started looking after my skin. Even males should do this which I never did
All of these things helped to ground me and assisted with clearing my mind.
These things helped for me, I'm sure there are other great tips from others you could try. But well done once again on making that step into therapy, it's a wonderful journey you've started, and always good to have a tour guide to help along the way.
Hugs,
Bree
