Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I haven't spent much time in public as Anna yet, but I'm hoping to change that this weekend.  I'm going camping with some friends, and I'm planning on being me the entire time.  It's a private campground, and there will only be 10 - 15 people in the group so I'm hoping it's a good way of introducing myself to the world (if I'm really feeling adventurous, I hear there is a dairy queen down the road...).  My initial plan was to bring a change of male clothes just in case things get too overwhelming and I need to bail out, but right now I'm leaning towards not even giving myself the option.

I have new jeans and t-shirts that fit, and I've been practicing my voice and getting useful feedback from people.  What else should I do to prepare?  I expect I'll shave my arms before leaving and I'll do my best to pluck some eyebrow hairs that stick out to me.  Is there anything else I should think about before leaving?

Be yourself! And have fun!


:)

If you're somewhere scenic, don't forget to block off time for solo hiking and introspection.

Maddy

Have fun Anna! And like Beth said "Be yourself" That's all that matters. But I do have one suggestion don't bring any male clothes with you so you'll have no other option but to be yourself.  ;)

Quote from: MadeleineG on July 31, 2013, 10:54:57 AM
If you're somewhere scenic, don't forget to block off time for solo hiking and introspection.

This reminds me that I should charge the batteries in my camera :)

I like the "be myself" advice.  No male clothes will be packed this weekend!

I totally did that on my 40th birthday ... I declared that I was no longer going to live as my female self any more.  So, that weekend when we went camping was my point of no return.  It was great!  Be yourself and enjoy being the person you have always meant to be!

Quote from: Anna! on July 31, 2013, 10:59:08 AM


I like the "be myself" advice.  No male clothes will be packed this weekend!

When I first started going out I kept a change of male clothes in the car. But I realized I couldn't move forward unless I ditched the safety net. How you get past fear is to make yourself face it head on and don't give yourself an out.  ;)

You are going to do great, Anna. :)
And I can't emphasize enough the good that a trip like this can do - for me it basically removed all doubt and most fear. I hope/trust it will be similarly good for you. :)

Anna, Have a blast this weekend, and enjoy every moment being you.

Just remember to breath. ;D I am glad to see you are upbeat and looking forward to you going to be freely you. Lots of luck

Izzy

Quote from: mind is quiet now on July 31, 2013, 11:36:28 AM
Just remember to breath. ;D I am glad to see you are upbeat and looking forward to you going to be freely you. Lots of luck

Izzy

I expect that the anticipation building up over the next few days will be the worst part.  Everything should be fine once I get there and get going!

I hope you have a great time showing Anna off to the world! :)

Remember, the more often you go out as you, the less anxiety you'll have and you'll feel a whole lot better. ;)

Amy

Just be you and have fun!  I'm sure it will go great.  And here is to hoping that you take that big adventure to the dairy queen. :)

Quote from: Anna! on July 31, 2013, 10:59:08 AM
I like the "be myself" advice.  No male clothes will be packed this weekend!

I bet you'll rock, girl!

Quote from: learningtolive on July 31, 2013, 03:12:07 PM
Just be you and have fun!  I'm sure it will go great.  And here is to hoping that you take that big adventure to the dairy queen. :)

No promises (but I'll let you all know once I'm back)

I like the advice of jump in no safety net, then I start to think, ok camping, camping often means swimming, hmmm, are you ready for swimming?

Girls wear girls things eh, and guys where guys things.

Do you own a female swim suit?, could you wear a girl's swimsuit?

Remember, you are a girl, buuuuut you might find that a problem if your friends get all daring and silly, like how would you cope with skinny dipping?

And keep in mind, camping might mean some booze, have you practiced being in control of anna when she is drunk yet?

Quote from: Lesley_Roberta on July 31, 2013, 06:27:49 PM
I like the advice of jump in no safety net, then I start to think, ok camping, camping often means swimming, hmmm, are you ready for swimming?

Girls wear girls things eh, and guys where guys things.

Do you own a female swim suit?, could you wear a girl's swimsuit?

No, and having small (but noticeable to me) breasts makes me uncomfortable in a male swimsuit.  I accept that I'm not going swimming for a while.

Quote
Remember, you are a girl, buuuuut you might find that a problem if your friends get all daring and silly, like how would you cope with skinny dipping?

By repeating "I don't want to join the pact" every time my friends mention it :)

Quote
And keep in mind, camping might mean some booze, have you practiced being in control of anna when she is drunk yet?

Nope, but I don't drink and I've never been drunk.  This shouldn't be a problem!

I sure hope you will have a dynamite time. Dairy Queen :3  Strawberry blizzard *drools*

(I have no extra advice to give)

QuoteNo, and having small (but noticeable to me) breasts makes me uncomfortable in a male swimsuit.  I accept that I'm not going swimming for a while.

You might feel you'd have to tuck, but what would you say to a two-piece?  Despite popular perception, you don't have to have the most amazing bod to be presentable in one.  Also, it may not be bad to have just in case your friends *really* push you to get in the water -- it might be their way of forcing you to fully not look back, you know?

Quote from: Kaelin on August 01, 2013, 11:32:31 AM
You might feel you'd have to tuck, but what would you say to a two-piece?  Despite popular perception, you don't have to have the most amazing bod to be presentable in one.  Also, it may not be bad to have just in case your friends *really* push you to get in the water -- it might be their way of forcing you to fully not look back, you know?

I'd be up for trying it next summer :).  I was only planning on shaving my arms for this trip, so the forest of hair that is still on my torso could be a problem... but body hair changes are slow but fascinating, and I'm not yet bored with watching it happen!

Time to go.  I'll check in Sunday night when I get back!

Good luck! Don't forget the bug spray!

;)

Watch for snakes.

Have fun Anna! :)

Remember: Riding bears is not advisable!

Here is how my camping trip went!

I got to my friend's house around noon on Friday, and fortunately I was warned that she had some campers stay the night the night before. I was a bit nervous, and I saw one of them stare at me for a while. She didn't make a big deal out of it, but I was wondering what she was thinking. I found out later that I had her confused - I was obviously a girl, but she wasn't sure if I had been born one (Confused sounds better than knew for certain, so I'll take it!). Since nobody made a big deal out of me, it helped build up my courage for going into a pet store and a Subway on our way out.

One 3 hour drive later, we were up at camp and I tagged along to the grocery store to get food. I didn't see anybody stare at me or look at me twice the entire time (yay!) which makes me think I'm doing SOMETHING right. I was introduced as Anna to everybody else as they arrived, and nobody seemed to think anything of it.

Saturday we mostly hung out at the campsite, with some time spent in the nearby pond. Apparently the water was really cold, so I had a good excuse for not swimming! And most other people used the same excuse, I only saw two people in the water the entire time. But we hung out and chatted and had fun.  At one point my friend asked one of the other girls how I was doing, and that girl was amazed to find out I was trans (double yay!). We went to the Dairy Queen as a big group later in the evening and I smiled when the waitress said "this is hers" as my order came up (:D).

We went to an Arbys for lunch on the way home today, and once again I didn't pick up on anybody thinking anything unusual about me .

The only people I caught using male pronouns for me the entire trip were my friend and her boyfriend. They're also the only two people that knew me as a guy, so it was definitely out of habit (and I only heard it happen once from each of them). I have no idea what any of the guys we were with thought, but they kept using female pronouns so I'm not going to worry about it too much!

This trip has been a huge boost to my self confidence and I'm really glad I came along. I think that going out in public with friends for the first few times was the best way to do it, and it's helped me see that being around strangers isn't quite as scary as I thought it was. I'll work on pushing myself to go out on my own, next (I still need to go grocery shopping tonight if I want to eat this week...)

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1001235_697061903640687_131054423_n.jpg)

Other challenges - one of the guys we were with has my male name (it was even spelled the same way!).  I kept almost responding with a "what?" or a "hmm?" whenever anybody called for him

Yay! Sounds like it was a heap o' fun for you! It's good to have friends like that.

:)

Thats awesome Anna, I'm so happy that you had a good camping trip. What a way to boost your confidence.

I am glad it went well!  And double yay for the trip to Dairy Queen!

Sounds like great trip and an awesome confidence boost. Thrilled to hear!

Quote from: Anna! on August 04, 2013, 05:23:16 PM



and it's helped me see that being around strangers isn't quite as scary as I thought it was.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1001235_697061903640687_131054423_n.jpg)

Yeah going out in public isn't as scary as we make it out to be in our head. Glad you had a good time Anna! btw is that you in the green in that pic? Totally passable girl!  :)

Quote from: Miss Bungle on August 04, 2013, 05:35:47 PM
Sounds like you had a good time. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about the pronoun slip up. I go to this one music shop from time to time (I've went there since I was a teen) and one time, the guy that runs it said to another guy, referring to me: "This gentleman here could give you some advice on that subject." (I don't even remember what the topic was) but the guy he said that to looked at me and then looked at him as if he had just sprouted a second head. It was pretty amusing. I still have an uncle that messes up with the pronouns sometimes but it is only out of habit. I don't let it bother me since I know his heart is in the right place.

Yeah, the important thing to me is that the people I just met didn't ever use male pronouns :D

Quote from: learningtolive on August 04, 2013, 07:14:06 PM
I am glad it went well!  And double yay for the trip to Dairy Queen!

I had a blizzard with reeses peanut butter cups and M&Ms :).   I should have gotten a small, because I wasn't able to finish it :(

Quote from: Heather on August 04, 2013, 07:31:59 PM
Yeah going out in public isn't as scary as we make it out to be in our head. Glad you had a good time Anna! btw is that you in the green in that pic? Totally passable girl!  :)

Yep, I'm in the green!  I'm even still wearing that shirt now :).

I haven't worn boy clothes since Thursday.  I'm not looking forward to tomorrow...

Quote from: Anna! on August 04, 2013, 08:47:11 PM
Yeah, the important thing to me is that the people I just met didn't ever use male pronouns :D

And if people do use male pronouns don't let it get to you when that happens and it does to most of us. Just hold your head up high and go about your day.  ;)

Quote from: Anna! on August 04, 2013, 08:47:11 PM

Yep, I'm in the green!  I'm even still wearing that shirt now :).

I think you look great Anna I think within a year your going to be beautiful not that you already aren't. You already look like your passing to me!  :)

Quote from: Anna! on August 04, 2013, 08:47:11 PM
I haven't worn boy clothes since Thursday.  I'm not looking forward to tomorrow...

Yeah I know how you feel it does suck going back to guy clothes. What has helped me is I've stopped acting like a guy. So my guy mode is just girl mode without the makeup and some guy clothes.  ;)

I'd like to add to all expressing happiness that your camping trip was so good.

2 thumbs up. Life is all good.

Izzy

That's awesome. I think I would have been most excited about all the ventures outside the campground as sort of an affirmation. I get nervous with stores because you have to wait in line where people have nothing better to do than to look at the people around them. The fact that you hit so many with no ill effects is great.

Sounds like you had fun. What does the guy with his arms raised shirt say?

Quote from: EmeraldPerpugilliam on August 04, 2013, 11:40:38 PM
Sounds like you had fun. What does the guy with his arms raised shirt say?

Something like "This place just got 20% cooler".  He was wearing that as a cloud passed in front of the sun, and somebody commented "It just got cold" and I took the opportunity to say "About 20% colder!" :laugh:

For the unacquainted, that quote comes from this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83cTan6ESk#).  Seriously.

I'm glad it was fun.

Quote from: Kaelin on August 05, 2013, 09:58:26 AM
For the unacquainted, that quote comes from this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83cTan6ESk#).  Seriously.

I'm glad it was fun.

OHH!  That makes so much sense, since he's a bronie (and a really good fan artist)

Glad to hear you had a great time Anna! :)

Amy

I cant wait for my first I was nervous just following your post, you should feel very proud, I hope I can look half as presentable by the end of the year. congrats ladie

Congratulations, I am glad you had fun as yourself. That took a lot of courage and as I was reading I too was a bit nervous for you.

Quote from: Anna! on August 04, 2013, 05:23:16 PM


This trip has been a huge boost to my self confidence and I'm really glad I came along. I think that going out in public with friends for the first few times was the best way to do it, and it's helped me see that being around strangers isn't quite as scary as I thought it was. I'll work on pushing myself to go out on my own, next (I still need to go grocery shopping tonight if I want to eat this week...)

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1001235_697061903640687_131054423_n.jpg)

Wow Anna, so cool! There you go girl, total passibility and you look as girly and cute as they get on a camping trip, kudos!

Quote from: Shantel on August 05, 2013, 06:57:28 PM
Wow Anna, so cool! There you go girl, total passibility and you look as girly and cute as they get on a camping trip, kudos!

All the way to girly in just three months - imagine what she'll be in 18! :D

I kid. But seriously - you look great, Anna.

Thanks everyone, it was a lot of fun!  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where I'm at in another 18 months :)

Quote from: Anna! on August 04, 2013, 05:23:16 PM
Here is how my camping trip went!

In short: totally awesome. I'm very excited to hear that; you rock, girl!