My answer may seem unexpected to those who know I am one of the most consistently positive attituded people ever born.
But I've seen plenty of people fail, or even perish, with positive attitudes to the end. Holding onto a positive attitude, through all of life's vicissitudes, is one of the warning signs of the people who surprise you when they don't make it. I almost died from my positive attitude.
Why? Because life is hard, and often unfair, and we all make mistakes, and even when we don't, we may not be able to realize our fondest dreams, or some times, even our most minimal expectations.
One of my hardest learned lessons, as someone who always had a positive attitude, is that being human is more important, being real is more important, and reaching out for help when life makes it impossible to hold a positive attitude, is more important, than any thing in our own minds, including the positive or negative color we put on the lines that life shows us.
In fact, if I was asked this:
If There Was One Key Ingredient For A Successful Transition, What Would It Be ?
My answer without equivocation would be:
To realize and accept that there is no one key ingredient for a successful transition.
There isn't, in fact, only one successful transition, let alone one key ingredient to one, and the ingredients for all our successful transitions, gender and otherwise, need to vary as our lives and needs vary.
Every day.
But if I could give one piece of advice, I would say:
As much as you are able, keep it real, be kind to yourself, and if at all possible, try not to do it alone.
The rest will come in time if you don't give up.
-Maddie
