For me, looking back there was something else going on which might have appeared to be lack of self-acceptance, but was actually self-protection.
I first consciously realised I wanted to transition when I was 23, in the mid-80's. But then I carefully decided it was a sexuality issue that needed addressing instead, and set it aside (over and over for the next couple of decades).
The thing is, I wasn't wrong - I did have a sexuality issue that needed dealing with, but what lay beneath that was the consequences of childhood sexual abuse. So I needed to sort all that out, and as I did, my sexuality healed itself - and only then was I able to wake up one day and find it was safe to want my body female. And only then did I realise I'd wanted that since I was old enough to know the difference between male and female. Growing up in an abusive environment, I seem to have made a decision to protect my female self from harm by putting her to sleep until it was safe to wake up again.
To me, that was an act of love, not of lack of self-acceptance. I'm very grateful to my younger self for doing this, and for stopping me from transitioning in my 20's, when I would have ended up in a terrible self-destructive mess emotionally. Of course, I'd like none of the bad stuff to have happened, and for me to have been ready to transition when I was young (and had little grey hair!) but I'm content with the way it's finally worked out.
