Look before you leap?

[Renate]

There seems to be quite a variety in how people transition.
Some plan it to the last detail, including a "Transition Time Table".
Others just blindly forge ahead.
Which type are you?

[Miniar]

I don't have a time table, and I don't have a plan, but I did still choose "Look before I leap".
Because I'm an information addict and I want to know side effects before I take stuff and so on and so forth...

[Nero]

A compromise. I didn't plan per se, I just did things as I was able to do them. But I had a lot of time in between starting transition/coming out and doing the medical stuff, so I had alot of time to go over it.

[Deanna_Renee]

I'm still at the 'looking' stage. Like Miniar, I need to have the answers, know what to expect/anticipate before I get there. Not sure if I'll go so far as to formulate a 'plan', but will take each step as I can and with as much information as I can gain before stepping. Though, part of me just wants to leap into the chasm blindly and get it over with.

Still went with "Look before I leap".

Deanna
Post Merge: August 19, 2009, 08:06:23 AM
I'm still at the 'looking' stage. Like Miniar, I need to have the answers, know what to expect/anticipate before I get there. Not sure if I'll go so far as to formulate a 'plan', but will take each step as I can and with as much information as I can gain before stepping. Though, part of me just wants to leap into the chasm blindly and get it over with.

Still went with "Look before I leap".

Deanna

[sneakersjay]

Definitely did my homework beforehand, but pretty much leapt off that cliff ASAP.


Jay

[Julie Marie]

I did the toe test with HRT, stick my toe in the water and see how it feels.  It was warm so I slowly slipped in.  Then when I was caught swimming in the forbidden waters I quickly got out.  Then, when no one was looking, I slipped back in.

All the rest was a "let's see how this feels" thing too.  I kept going because it felt pretty good. There really wasn't much planning but I didn't jump in either.

Julie

[Janet_Girl]

Leaped over the edge without a parachute.  I have done all the looking I was going to do over the last 20 plus years.  Sometime you can just over analysis something to death.

A line from Star Trek always comes to mind.  Ambassador Galron, a Klingon, stated "Make a decision, right or wrong.  And deal with the consequences later."

There are a couple of members that so need to transition that it is obvious to all but themselves.  But they use the analysiing as a way to not have to deal with the consequences.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Janet

[Flan]

I planned a bit, then went base jumping
(my 1 liner of the day)

edit: It was quite a bit more then that, but I had done most of my homework before I went into denial and when I came back out, I went on autopilot until I needed to decide what to do next.

[Robyn]

Once I got beyond 'Why THIS challenge, Lord', it was planning plus the still quiet voice.  My minister said, "Robyn, you don't get to choose God's challenges; you only get to choose whether to answer them now or answer them later."

So I surrendered to God's Will and began to transition in earnest with the help and guidance of my gender counselor and of that still, quiet voice that would appear in my belly chakra (solar plexus) when ready for the next step.

Robyn,
who really would like to get back to meditation and the spiritual path

[Kara]

I just go for it. That's not to say that I'm impulsive or anything, but if I want to do something, I do it right then. Being selfish is the only way to get anything done in a transition.

[Syne]

After HRT started I thought I would carefully plan things out. Then freaked when I could no longer pass as boy. Went blindly ahead and ran into some troubles. Backed out and then jumped right back in a bit more down the line once a few circumstances had been taken care of / changed.

[Steph]

I'm one of those people.  I'm very meticulous about everything in life.

What she said

-={LR}=-

[DawnL]

I pretty much jumped off a cliff.  I tried to plan and people certainly advised caution, but once I began to give in to being me, there was no stopping it.  If anything, I became obsessive about transitioning as quickly as possible and simply hoped that i would somehow land on my feet.  I completed full transition in less than a year and did land on my feet.  Luck was involved.

[Valerie Elizabeth]

Started out as a slight jog towards the edge, then a brisk jog, then a dead sprint and a leap off the cliff.

[Ellieka]

I chose a compromise.

Once I admitted to myself what I had to do I dove off head long with out a though as to how far I'd fall till I hit bottom. Now that I see the ground is still quite a ways below me I'm planing for that sickening thud once I hit it. I don't know how bad is going to break me or how much longer it's going to take but I am preparing for it to hurt like hell.

Lesson to the others just starting out. Make sure you willing to be broken if you leap before you look.

[FairyGirl]

Robyn I love your answer about our life challenges.

I have a specific plan laid out for completing my transition and a general time table in which I want to accomplish it. I do think that has to be somewhat flexible, but I try to do that with everything I plan. I'm 6 mos. into my one year RLE before SRS, but hope to have it all said and done by this time next year.

no matter how much you plan ahead however, I still think it's pretty much a high dive into the unknown.

[Vancha]

I chose "a compromise", as I think some things require improvisation.  Sometimes, you need to experience something, live in that moment, in order to know which step should be next.  Sometimes, you do need to play it by ear, without going through the painstaking effort of planning everything.  I am a "planner".  I am generally extremely left-brained, so it is in my nature to make lists, make maps, anything of that sort.  But the truth of the matter is, there is a lot of unnecessary stress surrounding "what to do next" when, sometimes, it should just come naturally.

[mmelny]

I spent 20 or so years "thinking" about transition, knowing that I would never be happy without doing so, but not finding the strength of conviction / character to blast past the boundaries that I felt were a part of my existence.  I buried myself in a bottle in my 20's and most of my 30's, and piddled through my sentence of mundane-ness by working long days and playing computer games to forget and pass my time, suitably numbed of the pain that each day brought.  Without really a thought, a pivotal birthday occurred, and everything clicked, and I laid out a two year project plan for transition, including changing countries and work, and of course, the gender that I present to the world, oh, Hello World btw,   .  Smooth and relatively flawless, and happier then poo beans!  Whatever that is!  But the important thing I found is, once I knew what I wanted, I needed to act in a clear and concise plan, or spend a decade middling in the pain of the half state.. I knew I didn't want to deal with that (ie androgeny).   So, yes, definitely a planner here, once I had the spark that ignited me.

*huggs*,
melan

[Vancha]

I spent 20 or so years "thinking" about transition, knowing that I would never be happy without doing so, but not finding the strength of conviction / character to blast past the boundaries that I felt were a part of my existence.  I buried myself in a bottle in my 20's and most of my 30's, and piddled through my sentence of mundane-ness by working long days and playing computer games to forget and pass my time, suitably numbed of the pain that each day brought.  Without really a thought, a pivotal birthday occurred, and everything clicked, and I laid out a two year project plan for transition, including changing countries and work, and of course, the gender that I present to the world, oh, Hello World btw,   .  Smooth and relatively flawless, and happier then poo beans!  Whatever that is!  But the important thing I found is, once I knew what I wanted, I needed to act in a clear and concise plan, or spend a decade middling in the pain of the half state.. I knew I didn't want to deal with that (ie androgeny).   So, yes, definitely a planner here, once I had the spark that ignited me.

*huggs*,
melan

This is a little off topic, but I honestly thought you were in your 20s. 

You look great.

I think planning is definitely a good thing, it allows us to keep goals and along with the simple fact that small goals allow us to reach larger goals, they also keep us motivated and inspired.

[myles]

I spent a few years thinking about transitioning. Then when I decided to I went as fast as possible. I spent the 2 years researching, finding stuff out so when a decision time came I would be well informed. Long time thinking about it, then transitioning very quickly. HTR within a month of final decision, top surgery 4ish months after that, because of the surgeons schedule.
Cheers,
Myles