Quote from: aaajjj55 on April 17, 2017, 12:06:43 AM
Vicki. As always you are wonderfully insightful:
Thank you. I am just glad you found my comments helpful.
QuoteI know exactly what you mean by this and have very similar feelings myself - the 24/7 thoughts and the sexual interest in women becoming secondary both resonate with me. In fact I do wonder whether what I felt to be sexual interest when I was younger was in fact a desire to be able to live my feminine desires through a partner (i.e. seeking someone who dressed as I wished I could).
I've recently come to a similar conclusion re: sexual interest. I would always gaze adoringly at women, analysing their curves, heels, features etc. I'd be entranced for ages. Many an album cover would intoxicate me and I assumed back then it was just sexual appreciation but now I've begun to realise it wasn't just that. My friends never stared as long or as lovingly as I did. I always knew there was some other reason why I was so bewitched but I could never put my finger on it but I now honestly believe I was recognising not only sexual interest but also what I wanted to be. Now it makes sense analysing the album cover of the woman in the mini-dress and heels sat on the floor leaning against the wall, intricately studying her and noting the tip of her little finger slipped between her red, luscious lips; the dress strap that slipped off her delicate shoulder; the contours of her breasts; her long silky smooth legs etc.
With regards to your former point, that is the real you pushing harder and harder to come out a time goes on. If you were under water having to hold your breath, the longer you were down there and running out of air the more desperate you'd get and the more you'd thrash about, trying to make it to the surface.
QuoteI've seen your photos on another thread and you look fantastic.
Thank you.
QuoteAgain, you are absolutely right. I do feel that, in the UK, we have a more liberal and accepting approach to TG issues than in other parts of the world but, sadly, the tolerance frequently ends at the front door. It's therefore easier to repress and drown as a result than to live truthfully.
The tolerance factor is never as bad as we think it will be. I'm not saying you won't get a few s->-bleeped-<-s or comments but by and large: people respect your choice, people are too polite, people are fascinated by us (and we're so rare that they've probably never seen another before). So yeah, you may get some cocky lads having fun at your expense but the same can happen if you wear 'dad' jeans, wear a 70s prog rock t-shirt, trip over a raised pavement, get splashed by a car driving through a puddle.
As for easier to repress: not as life goes on. That's why most trans come out in their late 40/50s. They can't live the lie anymore, they realise (consciously or subconsciously) that time is running out and that they, like anyone, deserve to be happy. Many realise they can't look their kids in the eye and tell them 'you can be who they want to be', 'ignore bullies', 'stick and stones', 'be true to yourself' etc. And the ones that keep it repressed? they're the sad old birds who brave a night out (in drag or en femme) and go all misty-eyed and melancholic, saying things like 'if only I had my time again'. And perversely, some make it out, dressing appropriately as a mid-50 woman, and eyeing the younger girls with jealousy because all their life they wanted to be pretty and in skimpy outfits like them but now they're too old.
Just remember this: the biggest two regrets of the dying (as recorded by nurses) is:
'I wish I'd been true to myself' and
'I wish I'd allow myself to be happy'.QuoteAgreed. I confessed my cross-dressing to my wife a few years ago and one of the things I said to her was that I'd love to go out as a female. However, things didn't go well following the confession (in particular, her realisation that I'd kept it from her for so long) and, to cut a long story short, I agreed to conform to her view of the husband she'd married. Am I happy? Not really, but this is the choice that I made and which I now struggle to a greater or lesser degree to manage. It would be great for this whole business to have a fairytale ending but the reality for most of us is that being transgender is a millstone round our necks and we have to compromise in the best way we can.
But consider this truth: you are not the man she thought she married. You will never be a 'real man' in her eyes ever again. Even loving partner who accept their trans-partners never see them as 'real men' ever again. It's not their fault and they're not being bigoted. It's just the way it is. All around the world we mock and tease men via comments that strip their masculinity, eg:
'sissy', 'big girl's blouse' and calling them female names.
So she will have lost respect for you. You cannot rewind time. Pandora's Box is open and just because he refuses to look at it doesn't mean the lid has stayed shut. Bear this in mind next time you think it's all water under the bridge. That is good because it means your trans is never truly off the table and can be brought up by you whenever you want. It also means you're kidding yourself if you think things are 'as they were' and you're both happy and that means for both your sakes it's best to address it and allow each other to be content, even if that means starting new lives separately.
Yes you have made your choice and if you stick with it you will only get wore You may always be able to manage it but you will always be unhappy. You will be condemning your true self to imprisonment. Without light. Without warmth. Without any chance of getting out. In many people, that unhappiness leads to depression and even suicide. In others it lead to the aforementioned separation and desperate (but extremely happy) attempts to make up for lost time as the women they truly are. And for others, they appear fine on the outside yet their dying moments will be filled with regret that they wasted their one and only life.
I am not advocating you split up but the truth is just because you have made a choice doesn't mean you have to stick by it. If your daughter was crying on the phone that she doesn't love or want to marry her fiancé after all but feels obliged to anyway, you'll be urging her to cancel, to live her life and to not give a damn about the feelings and opinions of the would-be wedding guests. And if you'd do that then why would you ignore your own advice?
If you have kids then becoming a woman and separating does not mean you will love them any less and does not mean you will not be there for them. Similarly, it doesn't mean you stop caring for the woman you've raised them with. As there is no other lover involved most relationships stay amicable. And better yet, a number of marriages survive - maybe not sexually but when you've dropped kids and are middle-aged that's not usually on the agenda anyway lol. But the years of love and history, as well as financial comfort, means many stay together.
But even if going trans means losing your wife, your home and 24/7 access to your kids, so be it. I know it's hard to contemplate now but I bet you also found it hard to contemplate splitting up with a girl in high school, I bet it seemed like the end of the world when you went your separate ways, but you got over it all the same. Remember: the night is always darkest just before dawn and what seems like the death of your world is actually the birth of a new one.
You have made your choice but only an idiot (no offence, just talking generally) would believe they have to stick to that choice. Only an idiot would deny their true self out of fear or for keeping someone else happy (even though their happiness is an illusion - sticking their head in the sand to avoid the truth they know is real) and only an absolute, bona fide idiot would not at the very least indulge, explore and accept their true self - even if that means doing it without your wife's knowledge. I'm not talking about cheating on her - just some 'you' time that she doesn't need to know about (especially if she will react badly). Don't for one minute think she tells you everything lol.
You say you can live with your dysphoria - cool - but let me as you: why should you? I can live without drinking tea ever again but I love it so why should I? Why should you live with a degree of unhappiness? A degree so strong as to make you tell your wife, join a site like this, and engage in a vicious cycle of buying and purging? If you had a similar yearning for water would you ignore it or would you drink water?
When you give in to your trans fully, as I did, and go out in the big, wide world - getting in the car and driving to the trans-friendly bars, ordering drinks, dancing with friends, getting hit on etc - then you realise that life up until that point was 2-D and not 3-D and so why would you choose to live in 2D? I comment on this in my video interview which you may find useful:
<Link Removed>You only have one life. When it's gone, it's gone.
Nothing is more expensive that regret.
Every once in a while say
'WTF!'. 'WTF' gives you freedom. Freedom brings you opportunity. Opportunity makes your future'.
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