Have you ever wished you were born decades later?

[Transfused]

I was born in 1996 and I will be turning 22 in a few weeks.

Recently there have been a lot of innovative techniques for trans people being developed.
Like uterus transplants and lab grown vaginas that will be available in a few years from now.

Maybe even lab grown ovaries in a few years time. That would mean that the younger ones under us will be able to have our own hormone supply without taking drugs.

That makes me really happy because I suspect it will all be widely available in 10-15 years from now. I will be a mid 30s woman at that time.
Still young enough to give birth, to have ovaries transplanted, to have a lab grown vagina and to enjoy my life as a woman, as a mother, as a wife.
Young enough to enjoy my youth as a woman,...

Do the older trans people on here ever wish they were born a few decades later?

[AnonyMs]

Yes and no. I've had a pretty good life so far and who knows how it would have turned out if I transitioned young. There's a lot of good things to lose. I also didn't realise I was trans when I was young so probably wouldn't have done it anyway.

[KathyLauren]

I am glad that the younger trans folks will have more options.  I am happy for them.

I spent 60+ years wishing that my life was other than the way it was.  I am all done with that.  My life is what it is, and for now and the foreseeable future, it's pretty good.  I wish waiting lists were shorter, but other than that I'm done wishing.  I am ready for happily ever after.

[Transfused]

Yes and no. I've had a pretty good life so far and who knows how it would have turned out if I transitioned young. There's a lot of good things to lose. I also didn't realise I was trans when I was young so probably wouldn't have done it anyway.

How does it feel to have two lives for one person?
I mean, how does it feel to have a before transition adult life and after transition adult life?

I transitioned in my late teens and am early twenties now so I only spent my childhood as a boy but never experienced life as a man.

How does it feel for someone who transitioned late in adulthood? Do you see yourself as a " before and after transition " person or is it one and the same person?
Sorry if that is a too curious question to ask.

[Transfused]

I am glad that the younger trans folks will have more options.  I am happy for them.

I spent 60+ years wishing that my life was other than the way it was.  I am all done with that.  My life is what it is, and for now and the foreseeable future, it's pretty good.  I wish waiting lists were shorter, but other than that I'm done wishing.  I am ready for happily ever after.

Do you look back with pain on your " before transition " life?
Or are you trying to be happy with how your life went?
I mean, do you only cherish the life you have now or do you also try to be happy with the things you accomplished pre-transition?

[Kylo]

Not really.

The tech may be there in the future but society's unraveling by the looks of things. I wish I'd done this decades ago.

[AnonyMs]

I've not lived two lives yet as I've not socially transitioned, but I have been on hrt a long time. I have a family and it's hard to imagine giving that up.

I've been quite successful as a man, but sometimes it all seems worthless. That's probably just depression speaking.

The main thing I'm looking forward to is just peace. To move on from this constant thinking about trans stuff and get on with life. It's very hard to imagine what it will be like to live as a woman.

If I'd been tormented my entire life by it perhaps I'd have different answer. If I was a lot younger I'm sure I would.

[ChrissyRyan]

No.

There will always be more advances (and perhaps some undesirable societal changes) over time. 
I hope those are all good for the upcoming generations.

In our lives we have benefitted from many advances.  I am grateful.

Chrissy

[KathyLauren]

Do you look back with pain on your " before transition " life?
Or are you trying to be happy with how your life went?
I mean, do you only cherish the life you have now or do you also try to be happy with the things you accomplished pre-transition?

While there was a lot of pain in my former life, I lived it well.  I did some cool things, including something that would not have been possible if I had transitioned earlier: flying a jet in the air force.  (They only allowed male pilots at the time.)  All things considered, I am happy with it.  It got me to where I am today, which is a good thing.

I could regret not having transitioned sooner, but I don't.  Regret would tarnish the joy of my new life.  I don't need to go there.

How does it feel for someone who transitioned late in adulthood? Do you see yourself as a " before and after transition " person or is it one and the same person?

Obviously, there is a before and an after, with some rather large distinctions between them.  And I do find it convenient sometimes to talk like there are two different people: him and me.  But it is all me.  I don't think of myself as two people.

While my body is being transformed, as are my social interactions and some legal documents, there is no transformation of who I am.  I am still me, the same me that I have always been.  I just get to show more of me to the world now.

[JoanneB]

I am in the "Yes & No" camp. Being a child of the 1950's and having 2 failed transition experiments in my late teens early 20's I can now look back at what a totally different world compared to that in which we live today. One constant of life is CHANGE. What the world looks like today will be different then the one 50-60 years from now. People like to tinker so there will always be medical "advances" announced. Some make it, some have issues.

One day many years ago my pointy haired boss decided that I would one of the perfect people to send off for a week at a shot for several months to some BS "World Class" something or other training. Right in the middle of the initial designing and paperwork phase of a several million dollar order in which I was "THE" person running and doing. When I pointed out the absurdity of his choice he said:
"There is never a good time"

Wait 10-15 years and there will be yet another, if not many more, "Breakthru" advances as an army of Master's & PHD candidates need to come up with something to pontificate about

[BT04]

Heavens no. I was born in the late 80's and remember what life was like without internet, let alone smartphones. I'd take that over lab-grown bells and whistles any day.

[bobbisue]

     Yes and no mostly no as a child of the sixties I got to see a social revolution change the world and watched it backslide and now it seems to be starting anew I was too young to be active in the sixties and will be one of the old ones this time but as Bob Seger said "times they are a changing"
     To live to see 2 social revolutions is worth missing out on some advantages in technology

     bobbisue

[krobinson103]

No, I get to live two different lives. How many people get to do that? Reset in the middle and start fresh.

[AprilRyan]

I feel like I was born at a good time, mid-80's, so right around the same time I started having questions about my gender and sexuality, the internet became a thing. I've heard so many older people say how lost and isolated they felt because of the times they grew up in, and I felt that too, but I at least knew there were others like me going through the same thing. I do with I was born a little bit later however, since it's been the relatively recent rise of acceptance that made me feel safe enough to start transitioning, which I didn't feel back even 20 years ago.

[Julia1996]

Heavens no. I was born in the late 80's and remember what life was like without internet, let alone smartphones. I'd take that over lab-grown bells and whistles any day.

You mean you preferred it back when there was only basic technology?

[Julia1996]

I think it would be cool to be born like 50 years from now. I'm sure technology will be way cooler then.

[Janes Groove]

It's an interesting question but, like a zen koan, one that can never be answered fully but can only serve as a springboard for meditation.

It's easy to romanticize the past or to vilify it but never possible to change it.  Like the butterfly effect, things we do change the future, and like Robert Frost said, 2 roads diverged in a wood and I, being a solitary traveler, took the one less traveled and it has made all the difference.

I do often wonder if the transition resources/industry was available back then how would my life would have been different, but I find it an ultimately futile exercise and leads only to feelings of regret for the road not traveled and distracts me from enjoying the wonderful life I have now living as a woman.
The truth is it was a different world, and I was a different person.  To reiterate, the world wasn't ready and I wasn't ready. I once heard a country song with the lyrics, "Don't try to push the river, let it flow there on it's own."   

[Kylo]

We'e assuming that people and social attitudes only ever move forwards. Look at some parts of the world right now. Some are very rich and very backwards at the same time. They'd never even allow the sort of tech we want under their ideology or religions.

Anyone thinking the arrow of progress only ever goes one way is mistaken. Time flows only forward but people can go backwards. No guarantee we're going to end up in a better place.

[Chloe]

Not really . . .  I wish I'd done this decades ago.

Agreed (I like this guy!) I wouldn't have missed The Sixties for anything!!!

And see my signature below   

( p.s. edit: lol Done what 'decades ago'?? )

[AnamethatstartswithE]

For me definitely. Even ignoring my gender issues, I'm basically a '90s kid who was born in the '80s. I'm still a millennial, but I have a lot more in common with people in their 20s than people my age. Furthermore, it would have spared me a lot of pain with my gender issues. Back in the '90s you couldn't do anything until you were 18 and at that point I was already over 6 feet tall. When I was in college the Blanchard model (the >-bleeped-< model, essentially that being trans is a fetish) was predominant so that helped to push me into extreme denial.