*gives you a big hug*

You've got this, sweetie. As long as I've known you, you get scared of stuff then it all turns out okay. Relax and just embrace that you're awesome and you deserve to be awesome. <3

Quote from: Camille58S on Yesterday at 12:45:40 PMHi all!
 I just need to vent a little bit, so please bear with me. I have been socially transitioning for the past few months. Coming out really. But for me, it feels like I change a little bit with every new person that I tell. That's why I think of it as more of a transition. Today I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. I feel like I can't slow down my feminization, and it scares me a little bit. I'm seeing a therapist who has been wonderful with helping through this. But I still feel like I'm on a runaway train! Is what I'm feeling today normal during this process? Any thoughts anyone?

Can I ask you, sweetie, what is it that scares you? Normal is different for everyone. This is your journey. What is it that you think is overwhelming about it? I don't want to put words in your mouth so I'll just wait for your own feelings. Is there any one thing that you're feeling a li'l bit freaked out about or the whole thing in general?

For all that abhorrent sunlight... the winter months where you live must be absolutely magical. I am sorry I haven't been to your blog in a while, Danielle. The truth is I am extremely envious of where you live, lol. Even though most of the UK is on the same kind of latitude as Alaska, geographically speaking, we have the annoying North Atlantic current keeping us warmer than we should be. We don't have the amazing place you have there. Which makes me sad!

I would move there if I could. Only for the Autumn and Winter months, though. <3 Almost perpetual sunlight would drive me bonkers.

You live in a very, very special place. But then you're a very, very special person so that stands to reason.

Quote from: Adrian26 on July 16, 2025, 09:20:51 AMThere's always turkey bacon, but that stuff doesn't match up to the real thing at all

I tried that. No... just no. My best friend is vegan. And she's always craving bacon. Comes up with all these weird and wonderful concoctions that are supposed to taste like it but... just don't. Turkey bacon is what happens when you take the masking tape off your walls after you've just finished painting and think "Mmmmm... I need lunch!"

Food illusionists can work miracles these days, but they can't beat nature. I want a 100% genuine steak, running free with myoglobin, cooked by a master. Not some facsimile by people in a lab thinking they know how to make artificial biomass taste even remotely the same. This is why carnivores literally exist. It's a thing. Has been since the dawn of time.

Quote from: Lori Dee on July 14, 2025, 08:40:23 PMIs this really a problem, or do I just need to eat something with bacon on it?   

This is literally my mantra for life.

Sorry for bothering you. I am glad you are finally finding your wings, Lilis. If anyone deserves to soar, you do. You've had that spark inside you ever since I've known you. You deserve to be among the light of the sun and the ephemeral beauty of the clouds. <3

As someone who... well... I still hate my dad. And I am finding it hard to get past that. I know a lot of what you're feeling. Hurtful people don't care who they hurt. Or how. And it takes a big heart to try to understand that. I am not there yet. But I am glad you're getting there.

Keep flying, little bird. <3

Danielles  favourite 

Thank you, Davina. And Lilis, too.

So yeah... I have been back at work for the last 4 days because they are crying out for volunteers and I'm only too happy. It's exhausting but it's better than wallowing in stuff. I've also decided to go ahead and study to be a therapist. I have a place in a course in September. I am sick of taking life on the back foot. I tried before but wasn't up to it medically. But I think that was just an excuse. I am tired of being reactive to things, and hoping things get better. I need to start thinking of a future, however likely or unlikely that might be. When you only look at the dirt, that's all you get.

If I drop dead tomorrow, at least I tried. So... who knows. Maybe it will all work out. Either way it's taking my mind off things, and I think that's helping.

Thank you for your support. It means more than you know. Maybe one day I can drop the "armchair" part of "armchair therapist" and actually do some good for people. And have something to put on my wall. Fingers crossed.

Quote from: Adrian26 on July 16, 2025, 09:18:05 AMA world that still hates you for your skin tone, accent, identity, and just being who you are. Now I realize I live in a broken world with many broken people.

You are not wrong, Adrian. But the world isn't entirely broken. There are still people who love you for your heart, your wit, your inner beauty and the warmth and kindness of the human spirit. Granted they are harder to find these days, but they are there. <3 There are a lot of broken things that don't always have to be broken.

QuoteLately, Ally(the original) has been with this guy we go to school with. They've been dating for about two months now and they're talking about marriage after highschool. He's an alright guy, but I don't get why she's pushing her person on the rest of us when we haven't even been able to talk to him outside of a school setting.

Two months seems... extremely fast to talk about marriage. Can I ask you, Adrian... I mean if you know. How did Ally take what happened to your girlfriend? I get the feeling it hit her hard and she's rebounding to something the entire opposite to feel safe. Without thinking it through.

I think she wants something, is desperate for something. To feel secure and safe, Adrian. I feel like it's a reflex action and might not be all it seems. I hope for the best... but being born male... I know that most dudes pre... like 25, are immature a-holes and this really isn't a good idea. It's something she thinks she wants but I am not at all sure he wants the same. And I am scared she... and all of you will get hurt.

I want the best for you, brother. You all deserve to be treated okay. You need someone who understands you. Not one aspect of you.

Quote from: KatieLee on July 16, 2025, 01:29:03 PMI am choosing: hate myself and the world will tolerate me better, or love myself and the world will hate me (for the most part).  Simple as that.  To expect understanding from that world... seems futile/silly/unlikely.  How I see it n e way.

What does it matter that the world tolerates you if you hate yourself?. I am not religious but the people who wrote the Bible had it right when, in Mark 8:36, they said: "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (I am using the New International version because the whole man this man that grates on me). It doesn't make you feel any better, Katie. That is kind of the point. It's dressing hate up in a different costume. It isn't even about loving yourself. It's about feeling like you deserve as much of a chance as anyone else in the world.

Don't expect anything from the world. Expect it from yourself. Be the change you want to see in the world, as a very wise dude once said. The only person we all have to answer to, when all is said and done, is ourselves. When everything else falls away. When all we have left is the mirror.

Seeking other peoples' approval is like a never ending hunger. If it's not there within you then this hunger will never be satiated. Because it can't be. It's like a black hole trying to devour your whole universe. And the bigger it gets, the more it needs to eat. It's a cycle that will ultimately lead to self-destruction.