After two years the changes have been pretty profound...but only from the neck down. Really happy with the body changes -- more than I expected. But my face has had nearly no change that I can see. Let's see what year three has in store....hoping.....

Quote from: Aspiringperson on March 04, 2018, 03:04:55 PM
@ Devlyn: Same for me... except my scale is from 1 -10 and I ended up an 11   ....  just like many of us I lament that I waited so long....  the clock is ticking and we are not getting any younger....   

It does sadden me that I missed out on so much by delaying my transition... but it is the biggest decision that any of us have to make and it so completely affects every aspect of our lives and the lives of those close to us... so... rightly so, we shouldn't enter into transition without research, discussion and deep thought.
Aspiringperson

...straight out of This Is Spinal Tap "These go to 11". Unlike you, I resisted the urge! 

Hugs, Devlyn

     For me the best time to transition is 45 years ago the second best time is now, no regrets

     bobbisue

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on March 04, 2018, 03:37:22 PM
...straight out of This Is Spinal Tap "These go to 11". Unlike you, I resisted the urge! 

Hugs, Devlyn

Devlyn:  You caught me red handed... I did not have the willpower as you did to not use the phrase.
  "This Is Spinal Tap was the only DVD—and seemingly the only thing reviewed on IGN—to get 11 out of 10"
Aspiringperson

Note:  I just posting this on the wrong thread... please forgive the duplication...

I took today (Monday) off and treated myself to a salon visit to pamper myself.    I went to the salon this morning to get a manicure, a pedicure... and a face, eyebrows and hair style&color, etc makeover.   Two of my cis girlfriends that I hang around and go to the gym with also were with me to get their own stuff done.  I think it turned out really nice.... my friends said I look younger!!!  That is a good feeling.
This last couple weeks I have been doing a few brief tanning bed sessions to get some skin color back from the long winter with very little sun.


I love how everything turned out!!  It is nice to pamper yourself occasionally, it helps to build self esteem.

So far I have nothing to complain about.

A definite yes, in so many ways....I smile now. I can also say that I could not live without it.

Kylo, I just love your understated humor, though the views of you that we get to read in your posts say that you really like being you.

Tia Anne

Totes, it's the kindest thing I've ever done for myself.

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Ob quot: spinal tap

QuoteBut ours go to eleven

'nuff said?

Quote from: Anne Blake on March 05, 2018, 04:47:14 PM
Kylo, I just love your understated humor, though the views of you that we get to read in your posts say that you really like being you.

Brit humor?

Wouldn't say I like everything about being me, but it helps to have your own back going into this. 

Quote from: RobynTx on March 04, 2018, 03:27:32 PM
It's going too slow for me, too fast for my wife.

Exactly! But I do feel like a whole person now, and am more at peace with myself than ever before. I've made the right choice to accept and align my body and mind. But, at others have said, it isn't for everybody. Being transgender isn't a choice, but transitioning is. And it is one of the best choices I've ever made.

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Quote from: Priya on March 04, 2018, 12:55:19 PM
Curious

That's a loaded question. I needed the hormones and surgery to be comfortable in my skin. I hate that I needed it. I hate being misunderstood and judged as a freak, I hate I lost my family and children, I cannot afford transition all the way. Face, electrolysis and such.
I think I'm miserable. My misery shifted from how I feel in my skin to how I feel in the world. But much less happier. Accually traumatized, deathly afraid of people and relationships, super tired, alone but not open to letting people in.
I wish I wasn't born with this. I hope to be dead soon. I'm also disabled, live in massive constant pain. And struggle by myself. So wanting to die is perfectly understandable... I have no reason to suffer any longer

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Overall, I am happy.  My only regret is that I didn't start sooner, but I recognize it may not have been the right time.  I do feel like I had to come to terms with it, there were times I hoped the feelings I had would go away.  For the first time, I actually want to meet new people because I can finally show them the real me instead of a facade.

I am happy with my transition, but it still isn't exactly how I wanted.  I know it will take time though, just have to remember that.

My full transition is going to be a while, but so far I'm very happy.  I've been on HRT for over a year.  I'm starting voice lessons and my makeup skills are getting better.  I trying to plan the next harder steps of coming out (wife already knows but isn't taking it well).  Don't know if I can come out at work.  Big changes ahead.

Going full-time was by far the scariest thing I've ever done.

Being full time is by far the best thing I've ever done.

I just can't articulate the joy that keeps bubbling out. But no, I'm not happy with my transition. The correct word is elated.


- Stephanie

Quote from: Steph2.0 on March 06, 2018, 11:15:38 PM
Going full-time was by far the scariest thing I've ever done.

Being full time is by far the best thing I've ever done.

I just can't articulate the joy that keeps bubbling out. But no, I'm not happy with my transition. The correct word is elated.


- Stephanie

Stephanie:
I fully agree with you.  I couldn't have said it better myself.
Aspiringperson

So far, I'm definitely happy transition wise. It's the rest of life kind of sucking right now!

Not quite at 3 months, but I still feel like I've made a good bit of progress, and as scared as hell as I am, I am far more excited. I just wish it would go faster!

Overall, words cannot express the joy I've experienced since taking that one fateful turn on my journey of life.

From my perspective, the world is no longer the drab, gray thing it used to be. Instead, I'm experiencing everything in sharply defined vivid color - not only visually but on a much deeper emotional and maybe even spiritual level (to a degree, though I don't consider myself much of a spiritual woman).

I've made such strong connections with people whereas before, I tended to keep everyone at arm's length. I've cultivated friendships, reconnected with family, and shared so much of myself with others to a degree unimaginable in my previous life. The fact that I took so long in life to actually reach this point brings tears to my eyes but they're not tears of sadness. They're tears of joy.

The joy I'm feeling is a mix of some things lost which I found I didn't really need but so much gained in the past 16 months. Just the fact that I can be happy with myself now, simply for being me is something that I still to this day find to be an amazing thing.

Transition, for me, has been the most difficult, most terrifying, yet most rewarding and wonderful thing I've ever done in my life. Things have slowed down somewhat from the early days of hitting one milestone after another and seeing the world with an entirely new set of eyes. However, there is still a long journey ahead and for the first time in my over 40 years on this world, I'm eagerly anticipating seeing what comes next.

Life has become one of those books that I just can't put down.

Quote from: Tommi on March 06, 2018, 12:54:38 PM
Being transgender isn't a choice, but transitioning is. And it is one of the best choices I've ever made.

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I agree, to the extent that I'd call it a choice, it was good for me, far better than I expected possible.

I am not sure I ever want to talk about this in terms of choice, one element of that is that I don't ever want people thinking of this in terms of elective surgeries etc.

Beyond that however I don't consider it was any more a choice than any other medical care I've had:

When I broke my clavicle in '09 the HMO doc tried to tell me it should just be allowed to heal and would take 4 months. 20 minutes of research quickly established that for the type of fracture I had, the chances were 25% that the fracture would never heal and even if it did, the odds were very high that I would lose some range of motion and experience long term pain due to displacement of the acromion and scapula.

My desire for GCS was immediate on figuring out I was transexual (for a year at first, I thought it was about cross dressing). The only things that kept me from starting the process in 2002 were my own fear of change and the difficulties I expected to face as non passable female.

The pain I felt over the last 20 years of addressing my transition as a matter of changing my socialization pales in comparison to the prior 35 of not consciously realizing I was female.

Is it possible to think that 55 years of pain that resulted in chronic depression was not a medical condition? I took every step conceivable to address the dysphoria created by housing a female brain inside a male body and when those measures ran out of steam I was left with the only remaining option of medical transition.

To be sure, for the longest time I thought I couldn't transition unless I could not only pass but be pretty and accepted that vanity was one of the reasons I held off. Ultimately that passed also.

And everything Cassi said, I wonder do you know what drab stands for?

Quote from: SadieBlake on March 07, 2018, 04:55:03 AM
I agree, to the extent that I'd call it a choice, it was good for me, far better than I expected possible.

I am not sure I ever want to talk about this in terms of choice, one element of that is that I don't ever want people thinking of this in terms of elective surgeries etc.

Beyond that however I don't consider it was any more a choice than any other medical care I've had:

When I broke my clavicle in '09 the HMO doc tried to tell me it should just be allowed to heal and would take 4 months. 20 minutes of research quickly established that for the type of fracture I had, the chances were 25% that the fracture would never heal and even if it did, the odds were very high that I would lose some range of motion and experience long term pain due to displacement of the acromion and scapula.

My desire for GCS was immediate on figuring out I was transexual (for a year at first, I thought it was about cross dressing). The only things that kept me from starting the process in 2002 were my own fear of change and the difficulties I expected to face as non passable female.

The pain I felt over the last 20 years of addressing my transition as a matter of changing my socialization pales in comparison to the prior 35 of not consciously realizing I was female.

Is it possible to think that 55 years of pain that resulted in chronic depression was not a medical condition? I took every step conceivable to address the dysphoria created by housing a female brain inside a male body and when those measures ran out of steam I was left with the only remaining option of medical transition.

To be sure, for the longest time I thought I couldn't transition unless I could not only pass but be pretty and accepted that vanity was one of the reasons I held off. Ultimately that passed also.

And everything Cassi said, I wonder do you know what drab stands for?

Sadie, I can't know how it felt for you. I *do* know what the barrel of my .38 tastes like. What the trigger pull feels like, with my thumb. That was the road I was on. To me, transitioning is the choice I made, over that. So, some would say it isn't a choice, but a necessity... I still consider it a choice. To the young lady above who feels like it is destroying her? I hope she finds a balance, because this choice isn't sitting right. You don't have to physically transition to be transgender. I will still believe you, for what little that may be worth :/

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