Hello!

[Jessica May]

I've been coming here for a few years and thought I'd finally make an account and say hi.

So hi, Jessica May here, I'm 21, I live in the Midlands in England, and I'm transgender of course.

I spent the majority of the last decade in denial, that was a bad time, we won't talk about that.

About 15 months ago I began to accept who I am, and things have been getting better since.

In March I saw my GP and got a referral to a gender clinic, at the same time I came out to my closest friend who has been very understanding and supportive.

About a month after that I came out to my other friends and family, while my friends have been great my family (my dad in particular) have had a tough time accepting it but they're slowly coming around.

I have had my first appointment with the gender clinic which, and have a letter for my next appointment on the 11th of November.

So that's where I'm at now, I still have my bad days where dysphoria takes over and all I do is mope and brood all day, but it's slowly getting easier, I just keep reminding myself of the really bad days before I accepted Jess.

I'm sure there's a lot more I could write here, but this'll do as an intro.

So hi, I'm Jessica May.

[Punzie]

Welcome to Susan's Jessica, its wonderful that you decided to join!

Congrats on taking your first steps towards becoming your true self. I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming appointment.

[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place. I am glad you are making progress but not everybody how comes here is transgender so it helps to know that. It's nice that you made an account so we could get to know you but I have only known about this site for about 4 months. You most likely have a better idea where stuff is than I do but if I can help you, let me know.

We issue to all new members the following links so you will best be able to use the web site.

Things that you should read

Site Terms of Service & Rules to Live By	Standard Terms & Definitions	Post Ranks (including when you can upload an avatar)
Reputation rules	News posting & quoting guidelines	Photo, avatars, & signature images policy

[V M]

Hi Jessica 

Welcome to Susan's    Glad to have you here, join on in the fun

Hugs

V M

[Rachel]

Welcome to Susan's.

[Sarah82]

Welcome Jess,
It's good that you have supportive friends. When I came out it took my dad a while to come around and accept me, I hope yours does too.
Hugs,
Sarah

[katrinaw]

Big warm welcome to Susan's Jessica

Hey I'm an ex Brit... but from south in London... 

Firstly yeah full understand the denial and even hiding bit for many... Congrats on coming out to your Dr... That was my first step, then some really close friends, then gradually the circle widens... and big congrats on you coming out to your fam's... and it is hard for them to understand and come to terms...

You are at the right place for questions and help most of us have been there 

Once again welcome and really look forward to seeing you around the forum's

L Katy 

[Jessica May]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone

[Mariah]

Hi Jessica May, welcome to Susan's. I'm glad your friends have been excepting. Families can be hard, I know. Sorry that it hasn't gone as smoothly with them especially with your dad. It does take time. I hope your dad and family come around in time. You might want to share with him how you feel about how things are going and see what happens. My family over all has been supportive but have i some cases come up with their ow reasons why this happened. I look forward to seeing you around the forums. Good luck and Hugs
Mariah

[gennee]

Hello Jessica and welcome to Susan's.

[Jessica May]

You might want to share with him how you feel about how things are going and see what happens.

That might be a good idea, it's been 5 months since I came out to my family and my dad and I have only spoken about it once, for 2 minutes where he said "I don't approve of what you've decided to do and I can't understand why you would want to do that.".
I responded with "I don't expect you to approve straight away, that's fine. As for understanding it, don't get too caught up on that as you can't expect to ever fully understand something like this."

Since then, he's told my mum that it hurts him when I wear a dress or a skirt around the house and he's really struggling to come to terms with it, and I've said to him that we need to sit down and have a proper talk about it all. But he needs to initiate the conversation when he's ready. I'm not sure he'll ever decide that he's ready for that conversation - I might just have to initiate it myself.

Another idea I had would be to bring him along to one of my appointments at the Gender Clinic, so he can see for himself that it's all real and I'm not just going through a phase or am deluded. I'm sure the doctor could talk some sense into him better than I could.