I'm still here. Mostly a lurker. I THINK I'm starting HRT on April 16th if not then soon after. I really don't have a lot of issues atm. My parents are... well they aren't dealing with it but they are standing by me anyway. My bffs are all cool with it and my work is supporting me. My boss is really cool and lets me talk to her about stuff. Mostly I just don't have any helpful advice yet unless it involves corsetry. Thats the only thing I have any real world experience with. I try to pipe up every now and then though

Obviously the terms "Transgender and Transitioning" includes a very wide spectrum of people.  Many will only come here as explorers.  Just look at the ratio of members to visitors.  While all are valid users of the site many people who transition still do not want the Trans label or feel as obsessive as some of us.  I know several trans woman in our local community that prefer not to associate with other trans people as they may be "outed."  Others reject the label entirely as a former part of their lives that is over.  Some of us need the opportunity to share with others in real time and some don't have that real life opportunity so this is as good as community might get for them. 

The big picture suggests to me that this is just another indication of how very diverse and fascinating our community is. 

I would think the term "reborn" would be apporiate. when one begins a new life, they tend to want to leave the old behind. I'm only just saying in opinion. some choose to keep parts of their old life but some will choose to leave it all behind. I'm sure though if they run into bumps in the road, they will come back if only just for a second

I'm here, and this site has been very helpful both for information and an audience for thinking out loud. I've done the same on a couple other sites as well.

I think at some point, though, I am likely to evaporate. Not because I'm abandoning transition, the site isn't helpful, or because I have any problems with the people here, though. Just because I am hopeful that transition will not be forever---that the process will reach a conclusion---and I think I will have less interest in talking about some of the topics after that. I suppose it'd be nice to stay around and help n00bs, but I'm not sure whether that's likely to happen for the long term.

I've had this experience with a couple of other forums on other totally unrelated subjects. I would be active for a couple years, rack up a few thousand posts, and then one day just stop checking in. One thing that happens is you lose track of the people who are active, so sometimes a short hiatus can make it hard to return.

My guess is that this is not a rare thing to have happen. It doesn't reflect poorly on the site at all, it is just a result of people essentially getting what they came for and moving on. Probably sometimes it's the reverse---not every forum suits every person, so probably some people find they are more comfortable other places and disappear quickly. Hard to know, but I think it's a normal phenomenon for any sort of long-lived Internet forum.

 <pushing dustmop of green sawdust, whistling>

The site's like a school, if you come back later the only  familiar faces are the principal and the janitor.

Hugs, Devlyn

Binge and purge.

You spend a bunch of time here and feel like you need to transition. Then start wondering if maybe the time you're spending here is making you want to transition on a faster timeline than you're ready for, so you take it easy. Then you're cured and purge. About a year later you're back on the site and can't remember your login info. Rinse and repeat.

I don't think its that odd. I've been transitioned for 26 years, and its only been in the past few months that I have contacted any forum about being a transgender. For me, it was a matter of wanting to blend into the cis world and just be like everyone else.

People's lives change, they get busy and stop posting, or just get tired of talking about it. This forum has a lot of good information on it, and is very helpful, but some people stop once they feel that they have the answers they needed. There is no right or wrong as far as staying on the forum or deciding to leave it. Its an individual decision.

sam1234

As others have said, sometimes people get what they need and move on, even when they *do* transition. (And sometimes, to be honest, they find what they need somewhere else - which is no insult to this place, as people from various somewhere elses wander over and find they fit in better here often enough too.  But I know I occasionally see someone on ->-bleeped-<- mention that they popped in here but decided they liked it better on ->-bleeped-<-, for example.)

What new transitioners?  I haven't seen any...


*burp*

I'm still here, for me i am waiting on my therapist. before i can start HRT.

i could transition but my cell phone bills and credit bills are draining my pockets but i could still get the ball rolling. if i ask my therapist for a letter, he's give it me in a heartbeat. awesome therapist i have how no doctors in my area do hormone treatment so i'd have to go to the big apple

Still here.  I read every day and post occasionally.   It seems that many decide transition isn't for them.  Some wonder in, get what they need and leave.   But, we loose some to suicide.   That last one has to stop. 

Hugs

Jen

Quote from: stephaniec on April 09, 2015, 06:26:26 AM
I don't know I just find it weird that if you have transitioned at some point in your life and you've been on Susan's and you have a computer in front of you, It would seem to me a normal inclination to check in if only  to see who's still around. I don't know how long I'll be around , but having been here I just can't imagine not taking a fly by if only for a nanosecond .

Doesn't seem weird to me at all. After the point you're done you really don't have much to ask anymore. Life goes on and so do we.

I made friends here who I would like to be friends with me for a long time (hopefully for life) but I don't want to make transition my life after I'm "done."

Quote from: enigmaticrorschach on April 09, 2015, 07:18:30 PM
i could transition but my cell phone bills and credit bills are draining my pockets but i could still get the ball rolling. if i ask my therapist for a letter, he's give it me in a heartbeat. awesome therapist i have how no doctors in my area do hormone treatment so i'd have to go to the big apple

What state and county are you in?

Quote from: iKate on April 09, 2015, 08:43:39 PM
Doesn't seem weird to me at all. After the point you're done you really don't have much to ask anymore. Life goes on and so do we.

I made friends here who I would like to be friends with me for a long time (hopefully for life) but I don't want to make transition my life after I'm "done."

I can understand "riding off into the sunset". Personally, I have a desire to give back although that's not for everyone.

Quote from: JLT1 on April 09, 2015, 08:24:58 PM
Still here.  I read every day and post occasionally.   It seems that many decide transition isn't for them.  Some wonder in, get what they need and leave.   But, we loose some to suicide.   That last one has to stop. 

Hugs

Jen

I'm new so I don't post unless I have questions but I do read the forums everyday and there is always something new that I'm learning.  I'm starting on HRT next month but the process of transitioning is so disheartening........recently, I have to admit that I've been constantly thinking about suicide and planning on how to do it so that it wouldn't look like a suicide but more like a accident...

i think whats going to cause me to leave is that fact i'm suddenly feeling uneasy, triggered almost to a point my mind is starting to blurry. i'm getting the urge to start my destructive tendencies again. i believe also that some leave because being here is also trigger inducing.

Quote from: Autumnleaf on April 09, 2015, 10:41:36 PM
I'm new so I don't post unless I have questions but I do read the forums everyday and there is always something new that I'm learning.  I'm starting on HRT next month but the process of transitioning is so disheartening........recently, I have to admit that I've been constantly thinking about suicide and planning on how to do it so that it wouldn't look like a suicide but more like a accident...

Please please please call one of the hotlines listed here if you get any closer to that awful accident that someone will have to clean up.  As an anesthetist I attended too many suicide attempts in the ERs that didn't work and maimed people and hurt others.  Please hang on, you are worth it.   You are just starting HRT and for so very many of us it really does get better.  We understand the pain and the desire to stop it but please stick around and see what possibly fantastic experience awaits you.  There are alternatives to get away that are not so permanent and you are smart enough to make em work....

All I am going to say is I am still here everyday giving to the community that has given me so much over the years.

I am doing what so many will never do and that is what is sad.

I have not forgotten my roots even though I have finished my transition.

Look around there is so much real useable information on the forums to make everyone's transition easier then they could dream. 

All anyone needs to do is just apply things that are sound foundation advice.

Transition is not rocket science, just confidence.

to transition carries a steep price because it's considered unnatural no matter how you look at it. its considered unnatural because more and more people are being to feel like they were cheated thus eventually chaos will occur. the price one pays depends on that individual. some carry a price so steep, that they'll fall into the null state. the null state is a state in which the individual can not be saved no matter what you do or say. however there are those who dont have to pay a steep price and will go on living active full lives.